Change of Law and Heart
by MidnightHowling4
Summary: Aubrey Lambert, a Game Warden for the state of Maine. It all started when a black GMC truck pulled up to the Lennox's driveway. Then the ball started to roll and caught in the middle was the Terror Twins. It was extremely unexpected, their meeting was thought to never happen if Aubrey didn't stick her nose in where it didn't belong. It all depends if they accept each other.
1. Chapter 1: The Return of an Old Friend

The sign above the twenty-four hour open restaurant read 'Sunshine Hill's Restaurant'. The outside of the building was a bit worn down, that's the usual in these old towns of Maine; they don't receive a lot of love and are left to the care of everyone in said town. 'Sunshine Hill's Restaurant' is, in my opinion, an amazing place for pancakes.

Shelly, one of the waitresses, greeted me and my co-worker, Zeke, before calling out to Zane, the owner of the place and cook, to place 'The Wardens Usual'; we come here often. We sit down on the bar stools near the door, you never know when a call will come up and we need to leave quickly, and both give our smile and nod of appreciation to Shelly.

Zeke Decker AKA Warden Decker swivels in his spot with his right arm resting on the counter and his body facing me. "So, have you heard about the new base being built in my section? They even told me they have a "new warden" to watch over that area and no longer need me there to patrol the area," Zeke strikes up a conversation.

"Yeah," I answered and nodded my head to help with my answer. "Have they told you who the new warden is?" He opens his mouth to answer but I knew what he was going to say before he even said it. "And before you go 'do you agree with them?'; to answer that stupid question, remember not an idiot here, no."

"I was not going to ask that question," he blurted quickly with his arms crossed over his chest. I rolled my eyes in retaliation and he swats me with the back of his hand. "Shut it. Anyway, no they didn't tell me who the warden is; just telling me, with a threat, not to ever go in that area again. Tipps can be mean sometimes," he mumbled the last part.

A barked laugh escaped my lips and I covered my mouth with my hands in embarrassment of catching everyone's attention in the place. Zeke snickered silently at my expression but stopped when his eyes saw the sight of our food. My mouth was watering at the sight of the food steaming with heat.

The ginger waitress brings out of the usual for us: me with three fluffy pancakes, two over-easy eggs, and a glass of orange juice. While Decker has hash browns, three over medium eggs, and a glass milk. My stomach growled not-so-silently at the sight of the food and a blush of embarrassment grew on my cheeks.

My partner in crime gave me a small glare, knowing the reason of me being hungry before turning his gaze to the steaming hot pile of food in front of him. I turned my gaze to Shelly, mouthing 'thank you', then eyeing the food in front of me. I dug in and groaned at how amazing the pancakes tasted on my taste buds.

We ate our food quickly so we can carry on with our conversation about the secret base being built. "Okay, that was delicious like always; the Tri-Cities never had great food like this. Anyway, Tipps can be but maybe she is trying to protect you from whatever the military is building there. It might be for snoopy adults, putting their noses where they don't belong," I teased the dirty blonde walking with me back to my Ford truck.

He rolled his eyes like it was the stupidest comment he ever heard as we went to our respected sides of the truck. I open the driver side door, hop in the tall truck, and sat my butt down on the leather, semi warm seats. Zeke joins me inside of the truck and puts on his seat belt (safety first), I quickly follow him after.

My hand touches the keys in my front pant pocket, sticking the truck key into the ignition, and start the powerful sounding truck. It rumbles quietly to life and the A/C blows in both of our faces, cooling us down from the heat of spring. Maine does have its cold winters and warm summers; hopefully this spring will bring a bunch of rain this year.

"Anywhere else you need to be princess?" I teased my great friend while giving him a poke in the arm and backing out carefully of the parking lot. They don't make them big enough for trucks like mine to have an easier chance to pull in and out of. We were swiftly on the road, heading in the direction of the stores, I do need some supplies.

"If I'm the princess, you're the prince to save me from the evil dragon and no thank you," Zeke threw back and poked me multiple times in the arm. This is why we are friends; since I moved here when I turned eighteen, he has been there for every step of the way, helping me become the Game Warden I am today.

Shaking my head with a smile on my face from his comment and silently giving him the bird, I focused on the road so we don't crash. This stretch of road is dangerous for deer to randomly appear out of nowhere, making my job a bit harder and sadder for the death of humans and animals.

It wasn't a long drive until we made it to the nearby supermarket and left the parked truck. I pressed the lock button (can never be too safe with towns like these, I should know, I patrol them) and my Ford powerstroke F-350, nicknamed Powerstroke, beeped to let me know he is locked.

My eyes saw the sight of Zeke's gun in its holster on the left side of his waistband. This made me subconsciously placing my hand on mine attached to the right side of my belt. As officers of the law with permits to carry a concealed weapon, we are allowed to carry our guns with us to protect the public and ourselves when we are off duty.

You might think carrying a gun will make things worse in a satiation but it had saved my life more than once. It was like any normal day, hanging with one of my friends, Zeke, at Sunshine Hill's when a man came in with his gun raised and a mask over his head. The sun was setting at the time, telling people night is about to fall and smart people going home. Both me and Zeke pull out of our weapons and talk the guy down from the robbing the place or shooting anyone inside.

Robert Dalal was later convicted of attempted robbery as that was the only charge Zeke and I choose to give him. He admitted to the problems of his past catching up to him, forcing his hand to steal money for his daughter's wedding (sadly he wasn't able to make it but truth be told, it was his fault) and apologizing profusely to the both of us. We both felt bad for the man yet he did what he did and needed to do time for it.

The small parking lot of the supermarket was one-third full, giving us the privilege not having to walk as far if it was during the weekend; this place is packed like sardines on Saturday and Sunday. We entered the older building and were greeted by the lovely smell of the bakery. Note to self: make sure to get some donuts.

Warden Decker followed me around like a lost puppy. With a basket in hand, full of the needed supplies from the store, I lead my friend to the front of the store and purchased what was in the basket. Before we left, I made sure to get some donuts for the both of us.

After the swift stop at the store for what was needed, we headed home after a relaxing day off from work. Being a game warden where there are barely any of us and we are spread out thinner then paper is hard for anyone, including the veteran who served four years in the army. Dominick Steele is another game warden and a great friend of mine. I also knew him from when I started as a game warden.

Gladly the ride home wasn't long from our position, only being a thirty minute drive; living out in the country does has its perks while at the same time has its downfalls. Jay, Maine is pretty small compared to some of the surrounding towns with there being around four-thousand and five-hundred people.

Driving down the road that connects mine and the Lennox's houses to the main road wasn't the greatest. It has potholes, huge potholes might I add, with goat heads (pokey's) covering the most of road. This gave my dogs a wonderful time picking out the pokey's from their paws; it's not fun.

My eyes glance over to the Lennox's house near mine; our houses aren't super close like any rural areas, we are about a football field away from each other. A depressing sigh left my mouth at what I didn't see; my friend, considered brother (I have known him since moving here when I turned eighteen), William Lennox, Wild Bill, has yet to be heard from these past months. It has been especially hard for his wife, Sarah, and his seven year old daughter, Annabelle.

Zeke shoves me to gain my attention; it sure worked as he almost caused me to crash into the pasture fences surrounding the only two houses for a couple of miles. "Hey, he's going to come home, don't you worry," Zeke assured while gripping my shoulder tightly and shaking it slightly.

Rolling my eyes and swatting him with the back of my hand, I park my white Ford truck between my patrol vehicle and Zeke's patrol vehicle (he drove here this morning so we could drive together to Sunshine Hill's). A white and red sign read 'Ford Parking Only: violators vehicles will be graffiti and later blown up'.

"You wouldn't turn my wife's truck into a children's coloring book because it's a Ram, right?" Zeke questions with nervousness in his voice. His wife's old truck was a Chevy and finally gave up so Talia, the wife, bought a Ram truck a few days ago.

A playful smirk graces my lips and I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, Rams are my second favorite with Fords, of course, being number one. Your wife is cutie, I'll have to think about it," I leisurely threw out there while pulling out my house key and walking up to the front door of my house. My partner in crime gasped and gave chase after me.

Instead of being able to get in my house quickly and getting caught by Zeke, I make a mad dash for the back of the house. I turn my head to look behind me and at him barely catching up to me. But he still was able to gain centimeters at each step closer to me. "Catch me if you can!"

He chases me around the house a couple time, and mind you this place isn't that small, until us both got tired and slowed down to a stop. We faced each other with our hands on our knees, breathing hard from running as much as we did. Both of us are fit as our jobs are demanding to stay fit so we can run after the bad guys, fetch injured hikers, and doing search and rescue missions.

"Ha! You're too slow to catch this," I joked and pointed to my body still catching my breath. He flips me the bird, he got it in return, and we made our way towards the front door. On the way there, he decided to push me lightly which I returned the favor and it turned into a full blown pushing war. Well, until he pushed me into the beam holding the overhang of the porch and I faked being seriously hurt. All that it gave me was a small headache.

Holding my head in my hands and making a somewhat realistic crying sound, I force tears to fall down my face and look up to Zeke. "Fuck! Aubrey! Are you okay? I'm so so so so so sorry!" he cried and kneeled down next to me. Right as he was about to touch me, I cracked up and couldn't keep in my laughter any longer.

Zeke's face morphed from worry and concern for myself to anger and disbelief; he immediately stood up, glaring down at me with a frown, crossed his arms over his chest, and turned away from me. "That wasn't nice Brey. I thought I actually hurt you badly, you're lucky I love you like a sister or I would leave your ass laying right there."

Standing up while giggling not-so-silently to myself and gripping on the wooden beam next to me, I shake my head with a playful smirk thrown his way. My hand scopes the key chain that fell on the ground and stepped in front of the door. I unlock the door to my humble abode and we enter my house.

"Like usual, make yourself at home and blah blah," I muttered and quickly entered the living room. Both of my dogs jump excitedly in their kennels (they are not to be trusted without adult supervision. Many items have been lost to their jaws) and I release them one at a time.

Kodiak, my Husky/Lab/Rottweiler/Mastiff mix one and half year old, jumped around like the puppy he is but from his training, knew not to jump on me (he weighs about one-hundred and fifty pounds already). Vivian, my Bulldog/Pitbull/Boxer mix one year old, bounced around and jumped on Kodiak for the fun. They wear each other out most of the time and do very well in their kennel when I am gone for being less than two years old.

"You already released the hounds? What have you done!?" Zeke gasped in fake shock and horror as he takes off running to the kitchen. He's not at all allergic to the dogs but loves to overreact with the littlest things; he knows to act mature when the time calls for it. The dogs heard the running of his footsteps and gave chase, almost tripping each other in the process.

"You just fucked yourself," I called out then head back out to the truck to grab the bags of food and came back inside. I set them down on the counter closest to the living room and watched the whole ordeal unfold.

Multitasking with watching Zeke run around the lower story of the house and putting the ingredients of some low supplies, I laugh as he slips and fall on his ass in kitchen to the left of me. "Told you so." He gives me the bird in retaliation and hurriedly stood of the ground as the dogs come barreling through from the living room.

"Why don't you call them-ack!" he attempted to finish his sentence yet he was interrupted by Vivian licking his face and sticking her tongue in his mouth. It didn't help with Kodi standing on his thighs and pushing against Zeke's chest, Kodi has a weird fascination with standing on thighs.

"Kodiak, Vivian, off," I commanded with my voice firm, no room for arguing and they listen. They leave Zeke alone, he gets off the floor and dusts himself off (my floors are a bit dirty). The dogs goes to the door and waited to be let out. They usual do this when they need to go to the bathroom or they sniff around mostly in a large circle. "Could you let them out please?"

Zeke gladly listens not before mumbling underneath his breath something on the lines of me being bossy. I don't pay him any attention and head up the stairs right by the front door. After getting up the flight of stairs and turning left down the hallway, I head to the second door on the left. It faces out to the trees and landscape surrounding the house, giving me a pretty view of the landscape.

All that was needed was my five blankets for snuggling with myself while watching either a movie or T.V show. Whatever is on the T.V that will hold my attention until night time will suffice. I grab my Seahawks, three wolf's, and a wool blanket, drag them down the stairs with me, and hop on the large couch in the living room.

It takes a few minutes to comfortably settle with all five blankets surrounding me. By that time, Zeke lets the dogs back in and joins me on the couch. The T.V is switched on, playing the show 'Lucifer'; Tom Ellis knows how to play his part as the handsome devil and has an amazing voice, just like Tom Hiddleston. Both are hotter than hell and can have me kneeling in front of them with one word.

We watched the show for awhile until the quaking of a duck caught my attention. Groaning from being annoyed of having to get up from my comfortable spot, I untangle my body from the blankets and head into the kitchen where my phone lays. The reason my ring tone is a duck is it sounds weird and catches my attention much easier than a normal ringing sound.

The ID reads 'Talia Decker', I immediately slid the accept button on the screen and hold the phone up to my ear. "Hey Talia, what do I owe the pleasure of having you call me?" I greeted while walking into the living room and facing the husband.

"_My lovely husband isn't answering his phone, I'm sorry to disturb you in the first place, and I wanted to ask you if he is still with you. He didn't follow through with feeding the cats before he left the house, it was one simple chore but you know men, dead brain dodos_," she responded.

"Don't I know it. Yes he is here; I guess I'll have to send him on his way. And don't worry about bothering me, if you ever, _ever_ need my help at anytime, wherever I am, call me and I will be there as soon as possible," I offered and glaring down at the man sitting on the couch a few feet away from me. She said her thanks before hanging up on the phone.

"Zeke, get your ass up and out the door. You need to listen to your woman or you're going to get the boot," I hissed with my voice firm, just like when I do it to the dogs, no room for argument and he listens. He gets off the couch and leaves the house after saying his farewells, leaving me to my lonely four bedroom home. The dogs are here and do love to snuggle.

Sitting back down on the couch and calling both dogs to me with a shout of their name and a 'come here', they come to my call. The large black mix named Kodiak for his size snuggled against my right side while Vivi laid right on top of my lap, attempting to get a couple licks of love in (mind you, she isn't a small dog being around fifty pound and nearly impossible to move when she doesn't want to move).

Time passed quickly without me knowing until finishing the rest of the season brought me out my watching inventively mode. Pushing Vivi off of my lap (having a lot of trouble) and untangling myself from the blankets, I go around the house, locking all the doors so the intruders have a harder time getting inside the house.

After dealing with securing the house, I pick up all five of the blankets and carry them up stairs with the dogs following close behind. I plug in my phone (always need to keep it charged or there will be problems in the morning) to have it charge during the night and slip underneath the covers of my queen bed.

Kodiak lays on my legs while Vivian lays with her head next to mine, already passed out from a 'hard' days of work (note the sarcasm). This is how I usual sleep with the both of them; they only give me an inch of my queen bed to move around. Moving them in the first place is impossible, the problems of having big dogs, they will not move if forced.

Sleep came slowly like usual, insomnia is a serve thing for me and sleeping is a rare beauty for me. Most of the time, I say to myself 'sleep is for the weak' and call it good. This left me to stare at the popcorn ceiling of the house and over think what my mind pulls up inside of it. The insomnia gladly didn't last as long as could have been and I finally feel asleep.

A rumble of an engine and crunching of tires on rocks woke me up from my sleep. My first thought was to grab my gun, which I did, from inside the drawer next to me and head outside to see the intruder is, which was also done. With Will gone and Sarah staying home (she still receives pay checks from Will to pay for the house) to take care of Annabelle, no one should be heading towards their house at this time of night.

Mind you, our houses are about a football field away from each other and the road that connects us has sharp rocks and goat heads covering three-fourths of it. Before exiting my house, I used my brain to remind myself to slip on a pair of tennis shoes so the goat heads wouldn't bother me.

My eyes carefully watched the headlights and taillights of the maybe black GMC truck pull up onto the concrete slab and next to Sarah's silver Chevy Tahoe. With my 9mm in hand, I got ready to shot the intruder with it pointing down to the ground. I not very sneakily sneaking up to be about twenty feet away from the truck and watched as the door opens and out steps a man. It was too dark to tell who it is yet I still kept my gun pointing down and eyes trained on the man.

"State your name and purpose of being here!" I ordered and saw the man jump in surprise. He spins around to face me and gets ready to hit me with his fists, he must of thought I was closer and decided to bring fists to a gun fight.

"Aubrey, it's me, Will," my supposedly missing friend spoke up in a whisper for some reason. My mouth dropped down in shock, I immediately ran up to him (gun still in hand), and wrapped my arms around my friend. After a couple of seconds of a reunion, I pushed him back slapped him hard across the face and set a glare at him. It didn't matter though, he wouldn't be able to see it in the first place.

"You motherfucking horse dick, I should kick your ass to Jupiter and back for worrying us, specially your fucking wife and kid. Oh, I'm fucking pissed off at you and I would shot you into a pile of flesh and bullets if I didn't love you as brother as much as I did," I grounded out while pushing my pointer finger against his chest during my speech. But standing here next to the truck gave me a weird feeling in my stomach as if I was being watched from someone other than Will.

He moved away from me, most likely worried about me fulfilling my thoughts, and ran into a problem; the truck he arrived in stopped him from going anywhere. "O-okay Brey, I'm sorry for worrying you but could you let me go. I wanted it to be a surprise for Sarah and Annabelle," Will apologized and sounding like he was sorry.

Standing back to allow him to have his own personal bubble again, I put the safety on my gun back on and shooed him towards his house. "'Kay, don't give Sarah a heart attack please," I paused for a moment, "Just know, I'm glad you're back, safe." With that, I made my way back to my house while having my stomach twist and turn from the weird feeling around the damn truck. _Damn, should have asked him about it. Where did he get it in the first place_?

**Welcome to a new story! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. First things first, this story is a bit different from others you have read. I slightly based the main character off of me, not entirely though. Next, the story is mostly staying on Aubrey, and is somewhat of a slow burn romance. It's just how her personality is.**


	2. Chapter 2: This ain't your Normal Jazz

-Beep beep beep be-' my hand hits the snooze button on top of the alarm clock on my nightstand next to my bed. Another annoying beeping noise starts from my dresser on the other side of my room and I groan, placing my pillow over my head for having to get up at six o'clock in the morning.

Kodiak gets off of my legs and moves to my upper body and lays down, giving me a hard time breathing and forcing me to get up. I push him off, he is easier to move then the small, fifty pound Pitbull mix, of me and get off the bed while rubbing tiredness out of my eyes. This is one thing I hate about my job: having to get up early and get ready for work.

My uniform lays nice and neat on top of my tall dresser where I left it after doing my laundry two days before. Putting it on to look professional like any normal officer and glancing in the mirror to make sure nothing was out of place, I comb out the knots in my hair and put it in an almost perfect bun. I give myself a once over before heading down stairs to start breakfast for the only human in the house, me.

The dogs follow me to the kitchen, waiting to be feed their cup and half in the morning. I pick up both of their water dishes and clean them out as they were a bit dirty, filled them up, and put them back to their original places. Next I grabbed both of their food bowls and put a cup and a half in each. They eat the same amount for Vivian being around half Kodiaks size.

"Kodiak, sit. Wait," I commanded Kodi to which he listened with pent up energy, ready to dig into his food. Once he sits his but fully down on the ground, not some half ass sit he sometimes likes to do, I place down the bowl on the stand next to the water bowl. "Okay." He goes to town on the food and ignores me like I wasn't there.

Vivian waits by her water bowl for her food like the good girl she is and her tail is wagging like crazy. "Vivian, sit. Wait," I commanded the same way with Kodiak and she once her butt touched the ground, I place the bowl next to her water bowl. "Okay." She bolts to the food and chows down. For her small size, she can much quicker than Kodiak.

After dealing with the dogs for their morning food, I go to the freezer and pull out the frozen pancakes for my breakfast. Opening the bag and pulling out three pancakes, I place them on a plate and put the plate into the microwave. I press the three minute button to start the process of heating up the pancakes and head to the garage to grab an energy drink for the day; it will help me wake up faster and keep my energy up for the morning.

Watching the news for anything exciting to entertain me until it's time to leave, I sip on my delicious V8 energy drink. I hate coffee, the taste is terrible, the smell is horrible; this is why I drink the V8's instead, they taste much better and hold about the same caffeine as a cup of coffee. While sitting on the couch, the dogs, Vivian finished first but waited for her partner in crime to finish, trot into the living room before heading to the front door.

Getting off the couch and walking to the door, I let the pouches out to go use the outdoors as their bathroom and stand on the porch. My eyes scan over the landscape of the trees surrounding our houses but found their way to the black GMC Topkick truck parked in the same place as yesterday. It still gave off this weird feeling and caused my stomach to turn; it felt as if it was watching me, even to this very second and from how far away I'm from it.

"Kodiak, Vivian, inside!" I shouted for my dogs to come back in after being outside for about fifteen minutes. They come barreling towards the house and once making it inside, they slip on the linoleum and fall completely to their asses. Both are very intelligent, most of the time when they aren't playing around and not paying any attention to their surroundings. "Kennels!" Both of them stop and hung their head low as if they were in trouble.

They couldn't be trusted outside of their kennels; they have torn up a couch cushion because of my mistake of leaving them out of the kennels. It was good to crate train them just in case I have to take them with me to somewhere far and no one can take care of them while I'm gone.

Both go to their respected kennels; Vivian's kennel is a wired where she has a three-sixty view around her, Kodiak's kennel is a plastic dog kennel with the metal grate door in the front. I close both of the doors (Vivi has gotten herself out of the kennel by licking at the latch so it has a carabineer to keep her from escaping), grabbed everything that is needed for a day's work, and head out the door.

Hopping in my patrol vehicle instead of my other Ford right next to it, I start the forest green Ford truck and headed towards the Lennox's dwelling. There was movement inside, alerting me the Lennox's are waking and moving about. I slip out of my vehicle and headed towards their front door, Will needs a warm welcome from me before I have to go to work today.

The door opens before I could even knock and a pair of small arms wrap around my legs. "Aunty!" Anna cheers before letting go of my legs, grabbing my wrist, and dragging (this girl is strong for her age) me inside the house. I close the door behind me as not to let the cool air escape outside as she continues to drag me into the living room.

"Mommy! Daddy! Aunt Brey is here!" she shouted to the only other two people in the house. Well the only two people thought to be here; my eyes caught sight of a burly man standing in the kitchen, talking with Will and Sarah.

He stood about the same height as Will with an inch on him. His biceps are perfectly ripped with his muscles showing not too much, not too little at the same time and his black tight-fitted shirt hugged just right for his six, maybe eight, pack to show. His hair is buzzed and the color of his shirt with not a single gray hair to be seen. A scar ran from his left eye brow and across the bridge of his nose and ended at the slope of his nose. The only word to describe this burly man was handsome.

Will gazes over to his over-excited daughter and sees me standing next to her. "Brey, come here. I have someone I want you to meet, he's one of the new guys," Will coaxed me over. Even with the man being the handsome devil, I'm always careful around meeting new people and trusting them is something that doesn't happen easily.

Though, I still listen to Will and walk into their kitchen where breakfast is being made; Sarah is an amazing cook. Another thing that caught my eye about the man was his eyes, they are absolutely gorgeous; they are a bright, cobalt that seemed to glow, even in the day light. "Doesn't look like a new guy, he must be training for the dam-ng Olympics by the sight of him," I caught myself from saying a bad word in front of the kid.

Mystery man tilted his head in confusion and glanced at Will with an expression saying 'What?'. Will breaks out laughing and leans on the counter for support. "Brey, god. Anyway, this is Ir-Ian Ian Hide and yes he is a new guy. He's new to the division I am in, he has others that are his buddies who also joined him," he explained after having his laughing fit over something not that funny.

"Dang, if you got guys like him, you'll be winning any battle or war," I joked with my eyes holding a playful tint to them. Ian still was gazing at Will with confusion written all over his face and he cleared his throat to get Will's attention.

"Oh sorry. Ian, this is Aubrey. She is our only neighbor and the first house on the road. Just don't mess with her, she knows how to use a gun and has amazing aim," Will introduced and pointed out my gun skills. As a game warden, you work will guns all the time and are face to face with them so you need to know which caliber is which.

"Nice to meet you Aubrey," Ian greeted with a tight, forced smile.

"You can call Brey, everyone does. Right back at cha," I threw back with a more realistic smile, even though it was fake. My mother raised me to be polite to new people and if they are a dick to you, turn it on them. Treat people how you want to be treated; it goes for them to.

"Okay since introductions are done, what are you doing here Brey?" Will questioned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I can't give my neighbor a welcome home after being gone for over a year and silent for a couple of those months," I fake gasped and placed my hand on the middle of chest. A hurt expression passed over my face and a sniff was added for a more realistic expression.

He rolls his eyes and whacks me over the head before wrapping his arms around me. "Yeah, yeah, you can and yes, I missed you too." This is why I considered him a brother; he is very caring to me and has helped me through thick and thin.

Once he let me go, I spoke up again. "What's with the truck?" He explained why he has a new truck, the old dodge is still parked in the back, and we talked until it was time for me to leave. Duty calls and it is very fucking demanding in this line of work. This is why being sick is a terrible thing to be.

When passing the GMC truck, it continued to give me a weird feeling in my stomach and I didn't like it at all. It felt like it was alive, watching my every step or movement when it could see me. Even from my house, it still gives me the smallest feeling of being watched and out here, there's not another house for miles.

Instead of staying and asking the truck to have a tea party with me, I left to do my job and get paid for what I love to do. Being a game warden may be demanding twenty-four seven but I wouldn't leave until age catches up; it's too much fun and you do meet nice people out here. Even if you gets calls in the middle of the night to do a search and rescue mission.

While out patrolling my area for any violators, I get a call from my sergeant to come the office. It was going to be a forty-five minute drive to get there and she suspects me to drop everything just to come at her calling. She didn't give any details or why she needs me to be there ASAP and that made me suspicious.

It was a boring ride to the office and once making it there, about five other game warden patrol vehicles are parked here. I recognized Zeke's truck parked off to the side, away from the others, and I backed my rear next to his. It's easier to pull out of the spot and get going inside of having to back up, making sure not to hit anything or anyone, and then leave.

Heading inside the building and towards where the sound of people talking, I entered the conference room. Decker, Sandoval, Buckley, Roberts, Wilson, and Tipps, she is our sergeant, are sat at the big table in the room, talking with each other to pass the time. I take the seat next to Decker and pull out my phone to play a game while waiting. Talking with people I don't usual speak with regularly is not my forte.

Within thirty minutes, six other wardens (Carter, Rose, Thorne, Steele (he's another friend of mine), Holland, and Hardy) showed up and took the spots around us. What caught my mind was all these wardens are in around the same area; it's not like they were randomly picked to be here. Decker is to the northwest of me, Hardy is to the northeast of me, Roberts is to the south of me, and Thorne is to the west of me.

Tipps stands up, claps her hands to get our attention, and walked over to the end of the table. "Everyone, eyes up here and close your pie holes. The reason I brought you here-er more like called but anyway, the reason why is because I have been told to tell you guys to stay out of section ninety-three. I can't tell you why because they didn't tell me why, just stay out there."

"The other reason is you have to sign these papers to say you will never go there and is you do there will be dire consequences. I'm sorry for calling you guys down here, especially those who had to drive over an hour here just to sign these papers. I couldn't just send them in first place because I have to be here to talk about the entire thing," Tipps explained while not sounding at all enthusiastic about the entire situation. It wasn't fun for us either, we had to drive down here just to sign some papers and get told not to entire a section that is part of our job.

Everyone gets up from their seats and grabs their respected papers with their name on them. I take out the pen that is always in my shirt pocket and sign on the dotted line 'Aubrey Lambert' before handing it back to Tipps. Decker follows closely behind me and we head out of the room towards our vehicles, now we get to drive back.

"Okay, that was forty-five minutes of my life that I will never get back," I groaned while trudging back to our trucks. Zeke smacks my arm with the back of his hand.

"Hey, at least you didn't get some of your area took out," Zeke argued. Wait a minute…

"That means you have less of an area to patrol, you asshole," I argued back while returning the smack on his arm. We split ways, I hop into my truck while he jumped into his and we both start our trucks. We waited for everyone else to leave for a clearer parking lot for him to back out of. I wave at him before pulling out of the spot and onto the main road.

While driving, my phone begins to ring and I pushed the button on the steering wheel to answer the call without taking my eyes off the road. "Yellow?" I called out to whoever is on the other side of the line.

"Um, Brey?" It was Anna and she sounded like she was crying. This worried me, what happened to cause to cry? In the first place, why is she calling me instead of her parents?

"Yes, honey? What is it?" I queried with worry laced in my voice. I care about her as if she was my own blood and would protect from any danger.

"Mo-mommy and daddy are gone, they had to leave really quickly and now I'm home alone. Please come and get me Aunty, I don't like to be alone." I relieved it wasn't too serious and released sigh.

"I will be there in a few; it'll take me about twenty-five minutes to get there. Okay?" I responded with an estimated time. She replied with an 'okay' before hanging up. I sped up a little bit to get there sooner, I felt bad for her being alone in the middle of nowhere. At least she knew she could call me for anything.

The twenty-five minutes passed quickly and I arrived a couple of minutes late. When pulling up into their drive way, my eyes caught sight a silver Pontiac Solstice parked in front of the house and a sense of dread and worry filled my body. The vehicle parked there confused me though, it was a beautiful, high-end car parked in front of an older house in the middle literally nowhere.

Hopping out of the car with my hand on my gun just in case it's an intruder, I quietly walk up to the door and knocked on it. I listen carefully for any struggling noise inside but nothing of that sort could be heard. The door opens to a man in his twenties standing there with Anna hugging his leg. She jumps up, letting go of his leg, and wrapping her arms around my left leg. "Aunty!"

"Hello there," I greeted the man before looking down at Anna to see if she had any injuries on her; nothing. "Anna, why is this man in the house?" I questioned quiet even he is literally standing right in front of me.

She gazes happily up at me with a big smile on her face; no signs of crying were left on her face from when she called me. "This is Jazzy! He is one of Hidey's friends. He's here to watch over me while Mommy and Daddy are gone," she answered. I turn my gaze to the person in front of me and gave him a warm smile.

"Well, my name is Jazz. Wha abou' yours?" he questioned with an accent. I took a second to get a good look at him; he wore a silver T-shirt with normal pair of jeans. He stood about 5'7; he is much shorter than me by four inches. His body didn't adorn any tattoos by the looks of it nor did it have any scars from battling. He wore a pair of silver sunglasses, keeping me from seeing his eyes or any emotions they might hold.

"My name is Aubrey, it was nice meeting you but I have to get back to work," I introduced myself before giving Anna a hug and leaving the property to get back to my fun day of work.

The rest of the day was boring; checking fishing licenses as the fishers are getting their boats and fishing poles out for the spring. That was mostly what I did; no one was really breaking the law today while I was in the area which left me to a boring, uneventful day. One thing I have learned while out on the job, never, ever say the q word or you're going to have a chaos filled day.

So instead of saying the q word and regretting the moment it leaves your mouth, I head home after the clock hits five. The same Pontiac was still parked in the same spot but this time with the black GMC next to it. This meant Anna's parents are home after leaving their daughter home alone and with a random person but it wasn't any of my business in the first place.

My other friend, Dominick Steele who is another game warden, decides to show up out of the blue so we could hang out for a couple of hours. We don't usually get to talk to each while on the job as we are busy and most of the time, our free days aren't on the same day.

"So Dom, your birthday is coming up and you will be turning thirty-eight. You're getting closer and closer to your fifty mile marker of your life. What would you like?" That earned me a nuggie and he messed up my hair, most likely giving me a rat's nest to comb out later.

"Shut it, you're over half way there Miss twenty-nine years old," he teased back. We are both old and hitting fifty is not going to be fun; though five years after that we can retire and have great benefits. This is another reason why I love this job. I flip him the bird for the fun of it and he tackled me to the ground with him straddling my hips.

"Get the fuck off of me before you regret it," I playfully threatened. He sat back with his finger on his chin as if he was thinking about my command.

"Nah, I do love this position," he huskily said. He is a fucking kinky bastard but we both know it's for fun between us. We have never had sex with each other but I have helped him with his sex life time to time when he needs help.

After awhile, he got off and we sat down on the couch to watch T.V until it's time for him to leave. That was the plan till a call came for the both of us. It was an emergency of a missing sixty-eight year old woman that left for a walk in the woods and has yet to come back.

We roll to the rescue once again.


	3. Chapter 3: Spotting Two Supercars

**Sorry about the formatting problem. I didn't check it after uploading, hopefully it doesn't do that again.**

My feet dragged against the floor as I made my way inside my house and close the door behind me. My body is dead tired from hiking, searching, and rescuing the old lady who somehow got herself far in the forest. It wasn't fun having to pull an almost all-nighter to find the lady and then led her back to camp for the EMS to look her over for any injuries.

She was very polite about apologizing for us having to be called out and save her from the cold, wet night. Another fun part was it was raining, making the K-9's job hard as the rain was washing away the stronger scent of her. It could have been worse though, finding her dead in a ditch; been there, done that, was not fun.

A mistake I made was not bringing any energy drinks with me to help stay awake during the whole search. Dominick literally smacked me upside the head to keep me awake while the chief talked about this and that; my brain is too tired for it to remember anything. It went in one ear and out the other.

Dragging my feet into the kitchen and grabbing a cup form the cabinets, I make myself a cup of water and down the entire thing. My eyes caught the sight of the time on the oven; it read 3:36 am. Before forgetting to feed the dogs, I release them from their kennels and they followed me to the kitchen. I pour each of them a cup and a half and let them eat the food.

Without changing out of my clothes or even making it up to my room, I lay down on the carpet of the living room. My body was facing downwards on the ground and I used my arms as a pillow. It was already blown out of my mind to put the dogs back in their kennels and I could care less if they chewed something up.

Kodi lies on my legs like normal and Vivi sits with her butt next to my face. For all I cared, she could fart in my face and it would surpass me in any shape or form. It only took a few moments to let sleep wrap its tight blanket around me and take me away from the land of the living.

A wet, slobbery tongue was licking at my face and woke me up from my peaceful sleep that felt like a two-second nap. Pushing away the squishy face and using my shirt to wipe off the slobber, I tiredly look around my surroundings.

By the looks of it, I was still downstairs, in my clothes from yesterday, and the sun was already past the horizon. My ears caught the sound of the beeping of my alarm clock upstairs in my room. Scrambling to get on my feet and pushing Kodiak off of my legs, I rush to my room, turned off my alarm clock, and changed out of my clothes from yesterday.

The clock on my nightstand read 7:37, meaning I have only less then twenty-three minutes to get ready for work. Fuck my entire life. While getting dressed, my eyes caught sight of my body in the mirror and a sigh left my mouth from how much my stomach was sticking out. I have been working out (being a game warden also calls for making sure you're in shape), eating less (I usual miss dinner), and eating healthy in the first place, yet my weight still reads over one-hundred and eighty or so, way too much for a woman at any age.

After downing myself like any normal day, I get dressed for work and rushed downstairs. The dogs get feed and quickly put in their kennels; there wasn't any time for a potty break at the moment as eight o'clock gets nearer and nearer at every second of the ticking clock. I grabbed an apple and banana before heading out the door and getting onto the road before the clock struck eight.

The entire time while patrolling or speaking with the locals about their fishing licenses, yawns were escaping my mouth like crazy. I already drank a couple of V8's to keep me up but even then, I kept yawning every minute and was waiting for five to hit the clock for me to head home.

Finally, when the clock struck five, I was literally on the long driveway that connects the Lennox's and my house together. With there being potholes or where the road has been washed out (rainstorms are common, especially in the spring. Can't wait for the thunder and lightning to show), I couldn't get to my house as fast as wanted if I didn't want to blow out a shock. I have done that in this truck, felt so bad for Powerstroke.

Leisurely pushing the door open and slamming it close behind me, I drag my feet over to where the dogs kennels are in the living room and released them. Vivian being the energetic puppy she is, she jumps on Kodi with her upper body draped over his back.

Going to the kitchen with both of the dogs following me, I pour each of them their cup and a half and told them their commands before letting them gobble down on the food. I fill both of their water bowls so after eating the dry dog food, they have something to help wash it down, and head to my room.

It was time to work on a couple of cases against some poachers who decided to shoot a doe, at night, and supposedly, lighting them up. It's just like the saying 'a deer caught in headlights', it makes them an easier target (it's just as bad as baiting them, totally unfair) to be shot at. Shooting at night was even more dangerous, you don't know what may be behind those trees, maybe a house or a dog wandering around or even a human walking a trail, you just don't know.

Many accidents involving shooting at night have happened in the state of Maine, some were fatalities causing the shooter to gain a murder charge and ruining the rest of their lives. Even if it's an accident, you still killed them and need to face up to what you did. A lot of people don't use their goddamn brain ever or even the common sense you're suppose to have.

This man, Robert Johnson, is under suspicion of shooting a doe at night and leaving it there to rot, another charge. If I can put these puzzle pieces together, than I can get a warrant out for his arrest and a search warrant for his house to collect the gun used and if he is there, arrest him on the spot. It would be hitting two birds with one stone kind of deal, if I could only piece it to be on him.

While working on this case, my door bell rings three times (signaling it was one of the Lennox's) before the sound of my door opening could be heard. "Aubrey Lambert! Get your booty down here before I drag you over here." It was Sarah yelling for me and I tiredly rubbed my eyes, not wanting to deal with this at the moment.

She had called me while I was on duty about wanting me to come for dinner. I polite declined, my body was too tired to have to talk with anyone and just wanted sleep, and hung up on her before getting back to my job. She must have not gotten the memo and decided to come over.

"Can't! I'm buried by work, maybe next time!" I shouted back and focused on the papers in front of me. The case was close to being cracked and Robert getting a hefty fine and multiple days in jail for his crimes. If I stopped now, all my focus on the case would be washed away until my mind could take the willpower to focus on it again.

"Nuh uh, honey. You're going to come down here one way or another," she replied with a hint of sass in her voice. I knew it was futile to fight her against this type of thing yet, giving up wasn't on my mind. Work usual comes first for me and even stopping on a case close to being solved wasn't an opinion on the list inside of my brain. "Fine, I guess it's the hard way now."

A pair footsteps going up the stairs sounded to the northwest of my position. They were heavier, meaning it wasn't Sarah or Will, these were much heavier, throwing me off on who it might be. They walked up to my door and opened it. The face Ian appeared in the doorway and he took the three steps to my desk.

"Either you're going to coming willingly with me or I will have to force you downstairs," he offered me two opinions but I'm an ornery and stubborn as hell person, it's going to be the hard way for me. I went back to work on the case still wide open in front of me; that was until a pair of strong arms plucked me from my spot and threw me over a shoulder.

In retaliation, I attempted to kick him with my legs until he held my legs against his chest to stop me. Then I elbow and punch his back with all my force. It did nothing to stop or slow him down. He still carried me out of my room, down the flight of stairs, and into the dining room. He sets me down on one of the chairs of the four person table and stands guard next to me with his arms crossed over his chest like some badass.

Sarah stood in front of me with a honeyed smile on her face. "See, told you so. Anyway, I know how you are with eating and I brought over Aunty Beth pasta. There are leftovers for three days and I will come by to check up on them, and if they aren't gone, I will be mad. A mad mama is a scary mama." She points behind me where a plate of said Aunty Beth pasta sat and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not even hungry and I already had something in the first place," I sassed back and stood up from the chair. Ian puts his hand on my shoulder and forces me to sit back down. There was no way to fight this guy; he was like the fucking rock but with way more strength.

"Oh, really? What did you have and what time?" she questioned with her hand on her hip.

"An apple and a banana and I don't remember," I half lied; I really don't know the exact time when both the banana and apple were consumed as it wasn't really lying. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest to act all intimidating, my mother was easily scarier on any normal day.

"Talking isn't getting us anywhere. Just eat the food on the plate and we'll leave, simple as that. No, we can't force it down your throat but we can stand here until you eat. It's not even that much, finish the plate and we'll be on our happy way," Sarah offered. I really wanted to get back on the case that someone rudely interrupted me; it was close to being cracked.

"Fine, you're lucky I don't have time for any of this," I finally gave in and took a bite of the food in front of me. It was absolutely delicious in all the flavors of cooking, I was glad she came over with food or it might have been a chicken nugget and French fry week. For an entire week, the only thing I ate was chicken nuggets and French fries.

After eating everything on my plate, Sarah was pleased with me and left me with three dishes of Aunty Beth pasta. She suspects me to eat a dish a day for the three days and will check on me after the three day. If they aren't eaten she "will bring hells fire for me to eat". I'd rather not be here to figure out what that means. I clean up my plate and put in the dishwasher for it to be cleaned later.

Heading up stairs after letting the dogs go outside and have their fun, I plopped my butt down on my blue swivel chair at my desk and get back to work. Hopefully this case could be solved soon and dock my number of cases down from three to two. Game wardens are their own investigators; they have to do everything on their own.

Later on, sleep was beginning to take its hold on me and instead of fighting it; I let it take me under its spell. I lay my head on my arms and right as my eyes closed, they caught the time: 10:39 pm.

'Beep beep beep beep bee-' I slam my hand on the alarm beeping right in my ear and sigh in content until another beeping behind me on the night stand. Leaning back in the chair and releasing a loud groan, I stand up from my chair and dragged my feet over to the other alarm clock. I slam my hand on this one too to shut it up and stretched out my sore muscles. My back and neck hurt the worst from sleeping at the angle that I did.

Doing my normal morning routine with the dogs and myself, I get ready for the day ahead. I down a V8 energy drink to keep me awake during the morning and not yawn as much like yesterday. The dogs got fed, they got to go outside for their morning run, and go to the bathroom. I put them in their kennels, still can't trust them out of them, and give them their water buffalo horns to chew on them. They go quickly through the other bones and these types of bones are nearly impossible for them to destroy them like any of their other toys so saving money in the pockets (stuffed toys are a big no for them, stuffing everywhere).

Leaving my house to patrol my section and make sure no one is up to any trouble, I start my day right as the tires of my patrol vehicle hit the pavement. It was a nice day with the sun shining brightly today and warming the air around. I had to stop by a nearby gas station as the gas gauge was beginning to get a little low for comfort. A rule for us game wardens was never let your gas get below halfway or you'll regret it.

Since the sun is shining above and warming up the day, I stood outside of my truck, waiting for the tank to be filled. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two Lamborghinis sitting off to the side as if watching out for something. One was a bright, sunshine yellow and the other was a cherry/apple red, both were gorgeous to look at. I pull out my phone and snap a picture of them both sitting there.

Zeke is a fanatic about supercars like me (I like both classics and supers) and would love to see these cars. It also gave me the bragging right to say I got to see two Lamborghinis today, he's going to be pissed off at me. He sure was when he texted me back about sending the location so he could personally see, I didn't let that happen and sent him another picture of them.

Walking away from my truck and up to the lean and mean machines, I snap some more pictures while snickering to myself. Zeke was trying to call me but I didn't hit the answer button and sent him more pictures of the ones I just took.

One thing that caught my sense was they were giving me the same vibe as the GMC at the Lennox's. A shiver went down my spine in reaction and I huffed out in annoyance with a glare pointed at the both of them. They gave me the feeling as if they were watching my every move and I didn't like that one bit.

After dealing with the cars, I get done with the gas and leave quickly. Being around those two gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something was off about all three of the cars and I needed to figure it out.


	4. Chapter 4: A Present for a Friend

**Again with the stupid formatting! I have no idea why it does that.**

"Kodi, sit," I ordered with my voice firm. He does what he told with Vivi following the command even though it wasn't directed at her. "Kodi, Vivi, lay down." They also follow through with the command and lay down on the kitchen floor. "Okay." Saying that, they both stood up on their four limbs and excitedly waited for the two treats in my hands.

Reaching out with my hands to their level and opening them so they could eat the cookie, they gobble the cookies down in literally one bit. "Outside," I commanded again. Both head towards the front door quickly and waited not-so-patiently for me to let them out.

Once getting them backed up so the door could have enough room to open, they sprint out like a bat out of hell. They chase each other with much excitement and pent up energy; maybe later this week, I will take them to the dog park for half an hour so they could play with the other dogs. I head back inside and grab one of their ropes so they could either play with each other or I could play with them.

Kodi pushes the smaller mix to the side as she attempted to grab the other end of the rope and closes his jaws on the rope. He pulls with great force, putting his body into the entire pull and trying to rip the rope out of my hands. He playfully growls at me with his tail held three-fourths of the way telling me it's just for fun.

The brindle and white puppy jumps on the large black mix, wanting to be part of the group. She tugs on his floppy ears to get his attention which it works. Kodi lets go of the other end, causing me to fall on my ass as I didn't suspect him to let go so quickly.

Both of the dogs run up to me, jumping/standing on my stomach and licking (more like drowning me in their slobber) my face, making it hard to breath with their tongues going up my nose. Moments like these I love; at my age, I should have a husband with kids of my own but that's not I want. 'Family doesn't end in blood nor does it start', Zeke, Dominick, Vivi, Kodi, and the Lennox's are my family and are the only ones needed.

The reason I moved here to Maine was to get away from my family, my brother had the same thought; he moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Our father wasn't always there; he made sure we had food on the table and clothes on our back but when it came to affection, he didn't know what to do and left that to our mother. She wasn't a good person either. Just need to stop thinking about it and will hopefully go away.

Kodi bites my hand kind of gently and pulls at it to help me get it off my mind. I pick up their toy and wiggled it in front of them to tease them; it works by them wanting to play a game of tug-of-war. This time, Vivi was the one to grab the end and pull at it with all her strength. She may be smaller than Kodi but she is a strong puller will drag you across the yard if you're not careful, ask Zeke about it.

Letting go of the thick rope, I remember Dominick's birthday coming up and needed to go out and buy him a gift. A party won't be necessary, he doesn't like them or surprises as he nearly round house kicking me in the face; I was able to block it, twist his leg so he facing away from me, and put him on his face.

For the moment, the best present was to get him some ammo and maybe some new fishing gear. He lost some of it at a deadly lake that any fisher would hate. Logs and stumps liter the bottom of the lake, snatching any hook daring to fish in its area. He lost like half of his gear up there from trying fish for a huge catfish named Hugo for his size.

Heading inside with both of my dogs on my heels and grabbing the keys to my white Ford, I return outside and opened the back passenger door. Kodiak jumps in first, not having any trouble with how tall the truck is, and Vivi places her front paws on the running board, acting like pathetic princess she is. I grab her back legs and help her up into the truck. She can get in by herself when she wants to and when she is too lazy to, she acts like she can't and gets help from me.

Jumping into the driver side of the truck and starting up the truck quickly, I roll down both of the windows in the back so they could stick their heads out and breath in the fresh air of the forest surrounding us. Both of the dogs immediately go to a window stick their heads, waiting for the wind to flow in their faces.

Mister doesn't stay at his window for long, moves to where Vivi is and kind of pushes her out of the way. She doesn't care about it continues to keep her out of window even I'm only going five miles per hour, don't want to blow out a shock, been there, done that. Kodi continues to move between the two windows, having a difficult time choosing one to stay at.

Once we reach a nearby tackle and gun/ammo shore, I hop out after hooking their leashes on their collars. I told them to wait before grabbing each of their leashes and letting them out of the truck.

They jump out and followed in front of me without pulling at their leashes to the store. The owner loves dogs and doesn't care if I bring them here, it good for them to get human interaction with people other than me or the Lennox's and out of the house. Dylan greets me with a nod and happily smiles at the dogs in front of me.

We don't say a word; we are both reserved people and will only talk with strangers when forced to. I looked over the ammo first to see what Dom may need; to my knowledge, he has a .22 pistol, 9mm, .38, 12 gauge, and .223. The 9mm is what he usually carries while on duty or even public just like us.

Dom does like his .38 for the classic revolver style and shoots it in his free time. So I get him a box of those before heading to the back of store where the fishing tackle is; I'm so glad this store is literally a two in one. I scan my eyes over everything and find a stylish Ugly Stick. I tell the dogs to lie down and release their leashes to get a good look at the fishing rod.

Ugly Sticks are amazing rods and great for fishing of course. They can literally bend all the way back to the handle without breaking and have astonishing flexibility. It was in good shape and the price wasn't bad at all. I take it with me, pick up the dogs leashes, and have them follow me to where Dylan is standing in front of the cash register.

Paying for my things and saying my farewells to the owner, I leave with the ammo and fishing rod in hand and load the dogs in truck by giving them the command 'load up'. They followed through like always and jump up into the back of the truck. I unclip the leashes from their collars and close the door behind them. I hop in the drive side, start the truck, and head our way home after the eventful day of working.

On the way home, I get a call from Dom. "_Hey, honey. I just wanted to tell you we are at your house waiting for you to get back_." One day, one day I will kick his ass so hard, he will somehow make it to Jupiter. I flip him off even though he couldn't see me also know he is referring to Zeke being with him.

"Why are you guys at my house? None of us have a free day and no we aren't having a beer bong challenge, you will kick our asses and I don't drink beer in the first place," I responded and making sure to focus on the road in front of me, so glad cars have a button you can hit to answer calls. It was true though; I don't drink beer in fear of becoming like my mother and father, drunks.

"_Yes, we know this but Zeke was bored and dragged me along for the ride_," he threw back with a reasonable reply.

"Okay, fine, I'm almost there so don't go all ape-shit on me." With that, I hung up on them and drew my entire focus in driving safely home.

Pulling up next to Zeke's patrol vehicle and hiding the birthday presents out of sight hop out of the truck and released the hounds on them. Vivi goes for her favorite of the two, Dom (she is a daddy's girl), and Kodi goes for Zeke. Even though he knows not to jump on anyone, he goes against the rules and jumps on the suspecting Zeke; he knows Kodi likes to jump.

While standing there, waiting for the four to be done with their greetings, my eyes caught the sight of a couple of other cars parked in the driveway of the Lennox's. One was black and yellow Camaro, the Porsche from earlier, and surprisingly a Peterbilt red and blue flamed truck. How in the hell did it get its booty all the way down the driveway?

"Zeke, Dom, I need to ask the Lennox's something and want you guys to come with me," I spoke up after admiring the Camaro (those are my second favorite, right behind Lambos). Zeke looks up from giving Kodi kisses on his snout and glances over at the Lennox's house. A smirk grew on his face and I knew was up to no good.

"Race you!" he shouts while letting go of Kodi's front paws and races of towards the Lennox's house. Dom and I react quickly and are hot on his heels, slowly catching up to him and hopefully going to beat him instead of it being the other way. The dogs easily catch up and stay with our speed.

Finally reaching the Lennox's house with Dom in the lead, we all step up on the porch and Zeke knocks on the door. It opens up to a young man about the age of twenty-three.

"Is Will home?" I questioned out of breath and hopefully he understood me. He nods with a bit of confusion written on his face and turned around to face the living room with the Lennox family, Fig, Epps Ian, Jazz, and another man I have to meet.

The young man wore a bright sunshine yellow with a pair of jeans to company it. His hair was styled in an undercut and the color is black with a stripe of yellow, reminding me of a bee. He stood an inch taller than me, giving him the height of 6' foot, the usual height of a man. His eyes were what caught my eye in the first place; they were also a blue like Ian but more of an azure blue and seemed to glow in the daylight. By being in the presence of him gave me the same dread feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Will, you got some company?" the young man called out to Will. Said man looked away from the unknown man who he was talking to and perked up when he saw me at the door. He waved his hand to invite us in and I kept the dogs outside since Anna is smaller and could easily get knocked over.

"Brey, what do I owe this great pleasure of being in your presences?" Will questioned while being silly or what we call his normal self.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to have dinner at my place with a bonfire like always on Friday?" I questioned while looking over the unknown man. He stood at an amazing height of while wearing a blue shirt and a red leather jacket over it. Just like the greeter, he wore jeans and a pair of professional boots on his feet. His eyes also caught mine from the color of them, a royal blue and also seemed to glow in the daylight like Ian and the other man. He, just like the other two, gave the weird feeling in my stomach grow from being near him.

Will tensed in the slightest and wiped it off like it was nothing yet my eye still caught it. "Can't, I already have others from my division coming over." It wasn't a lie by sound of it yet it seemed it wasn't the whole truth. This worried me and made me suspicious of the man I thought could be trusted. I still shrug my shoulders like it was nothing and put a smile on my lips.

"Okay, thought asking wouldn't hurt," I responded before waving at him and everyone in the room a farewell and headed out the door. The dogs followed us back from laying the porch for us and between the three of us; we didn't speak about him lying. I didn't know if the others could tell he was but I dropped quickly, knowing it would be useless to talk about it without more information.

We hung out until the clock struck nine and the two of them left. I head up stairs to my room with the dogs following me and laid down on my bed. Plugging in my phone for it to be charged for the next day, I let sleep take over and darkness close in on my vision.

It was like any normal day with my gas gauge getting a little too low for comfort and I stop by at a nearby gas station to fill up my patrol vehicle. The flash of something shining in my eyes caught my attention and I looked to find the culprit, the only thing that could have done it was the same two Lambos from before. There wasn't anyone inside by the looks of it and when I looked up, the flashing stopped.

Shaking my head and thinking it was from the lack of sleep, I finish up at the pump before leaving the scene. They continued to give me the weird feeling of being watched until the trees next to the gas station blocked their view of me. What in the hell is going on?

While on patrol of a nearby city, my eyes caught sight of another police vehicle. Something was off about it; on the rear side, instead of it saying to serve and protect, it said to punish and enslave: that for sure shouldn't be on a cop car. Another thing wrong about it was it didn't tell what department it was from. This cop car was a fakey and someone was about to be in big trouble.

Grabbing my radio and pushing the button to call in, I tell them what my eyes see and wait for a response. Nothing, all that I got in return was static. I pull over to the side to figure out what the problem is, having to lose the fakey cop car, and the moment the car left, my radio was back to normal. I tried to track down the car again but for the rest of the day, I couldn't find it again.


	5. Chapter 5: Bonfire and Beers

**I apologize for the formatting issues again. It looked fine to me when I checked. Thank you for telling me this.**

"Jess, I told you to not go back there with a fucking vehicle. It's a snowmobile trail dummy. Have you at least called a tow truck to come and pull you out?" I grounded out with a small hint of annoyance in my voice. A person I met while on duty who was in trouble with his life and he needed help so I told him he could call me whenever to help him, like right now.

"_No, I don't have any insurance for towing, that's why I called you to come pull me out. Please, I won't have enough money to pay the towing on the car_," Jess begged with his voice sounding pathetic. On some of the patrol vehicles, we have a winch for situations like this. My eyes glance at my gas gauge and wasn't happy about it being as low as it showed.

"Okay, let me get some gas and I need me your exact location so I can find you. But will need to know, I will have to do a report about this, I can't hide stuff like this from my superiors. If they figure out that I did hide something, it could cost me my job. Remember, send the _exact_ location of where you're at," I ordered with my voice firm and taking a left on a street, heading towards the gas station I usually go to. That's also where those two Lambos have been spotted at.

"_Thank you so much! I'm forever in your deb_t," he responded with delight and relief filling his tone of voice. Rolling my eyes at his antics and hanging up on him, I take another left to pull into the gas station and a pump for diesel. My eyes caught sight of the same Lambos parked near where they were seen from before meaning they were just left there. Who in their goddamn mind would leave these cars here?

The feeling of being watched slowly crawled up my back and a shiver went down my back in reaction. There was no one here outside at the pumps and inside of the store, no one would be seen from the window. I hop out of my truck and begun the process of filling up my truck with diesel, making sure it was diesel. I have filled up a tank with gas instead diesel in my other Ford, not a smart idea.

Taking a flying leap of faith and courage, I made my way over to the two Lambos and took out my phone for a picture. I walked up much closer than the other couple of times and caught sight of a symbol on their hoods, both of them had it. The symbol wasn't the normal golden bull but of the resemblance of a face. It was boxier looking though, not giving the full looking of a face.

My phone snaps the picture of face and a few more of the two themselves, making sure to get all their angles; it's not like they have a bad side in the first place, they are fucking gorgeous. The feeling never left and only grew long I stood in front of them, admiring the beauty of them. The weirdest part of it all, they both gave off a vibe. The red one was happy about the attention it's getting from me and the yellow one was giving a murderous vibe, trying to scare me away.

Pump number two made a clicking noise at the sound of my vehicle's tank is filled. My eyes were glued on the Lambos and were nearly impossible to look away from their perfection. I forced myself to look away, head over to my truck to finish up, and leave without another thought.

My phone finally buzzes after multiple minutes on the road and I pulled over to check out where Jess got himself stuck. He seems to have gotten his SUV stuck on a wooden bridge meant for snowmobiles. I don't even know why he was all the way out there. It's in the middle of nowhere forest and there isn't any nearby stores to get to from that trail.

The safest way to go for my truck to not get stuck just like him was go the way he was heading towards. It would be a little bit of a challenge to maneuver my truck between a couple of tight spots but if it's for Jess, might as well get done. A tow truck would never be able to get their selves back there and it would take all my knowledge and skills to figure out how to safely make it to him. Fuck my life.

Heading in the direction of the cross road of the snowmobile trail and road meet, I call into dispatch to tell them the position I'm going to be in won't allow me to get to help quick than carefully getting my truck on the trail. It was wider without the snow on it to my advantage, making it a bit easier to drive on the slim trail.

It took awhile to get down to where he got stuck and by seeing in real life how bad he got, all I hope my winch could pull him out of there. We greet each other before getting to work on putting the tow strap on the front and hooking said tow strap to the clip.

Jess puts his SUV into neutral as not to ruin his transmission and making it easier to pull him out and sits inside, waiting for me to pull him out. I lock the winch in place, get back inside of the truck, and begin pulling him out of the hole he made. My Ford had some trouble at first but slow and steady win's the race and I did just that. It took some time until his back tires were finally on the ground again his vehicle out of danger for now.

Once getting him unstuck, I unhooked the towing strap from the front of his SUV and threw it in the tool box in the bed of the truck. Closing and locking the tool box, I hop back into my truck and rest my head against the steering, releasing sigh of annoyance.

Now, I have to somehow maneuver my truck around and head back to the main road. Another bad part about this is my truck is a long bed, making my back end stick out further then wanted and giving me a harder time turning around. Remember, the trail is meant for snowmobiles, not for three ton truck attempting to get facing in the right way. I hate my job, I love my job, I hate that I love my job.

With my great abilities and skills with working with trucks, I was able to maneuver my truck so it was facing the right way. We got on our way of getting onto the main road and gladly it didn't take too long. We said our goodbyes to each other by wave and split ways. I called into dispatch to alert them I got done with my job and was ready for any calls, there wasn't any.

"Come on, give me something to do. Speed a little bit or even uh, just do something people. I'm bored," I groaned out loud to myself as I'm alone in my truck, bored out of my mind. I had hid my truck in a perfect spot so no one passing in their cars could see me until about thirty feet away from me. From the sneaky spot, I could see them through the trees and tell if they were doing against the law.

No one was doing anything against the law for the rest of the day, giving me nothing to do but sit here and wait for any baddies to break the law. Either I'm in the wrong spot or no one wants to break the law, that's not good for us officers.

My head was resting in my hand as my eyes scanned over the small amount of cars passing by. That was until my eyes caught sight of a familiar cop car passed by, as if it was teasing me. I immediately perked up, put the truck into drive and gave chase after this son of bitch with my lights on. I tried to call into dispatch about the chase but just like last, only static on the other end.

This was going to be a stupid idea, I followed him through a small city and he turned into residential area. He kept making turns, literally drifting around corners, and gaining feet away from me; my truck wasn't built to chase cars like these and I had to soon call off the chase. A Ford F-150 going against a Saleen S281 Mustang; of course I lost to it.

My radio mysteriously came back to life and I reported what had just happen in the span of ten minutes. Our dispatcher was confused but made sure to put out a BOLO, be on the lookout, for the Saleen S281 Mustang with a license plate that read JHFW46; at least the criminal had a license plate.

The day was coming to an end after the Mystery Mustang has yet to be found and I decided not to take a second shift to find him. I headed home with tiredness slightly catching up on me and pulled onto our long driveway from the road to our houses. The trees give cover from the sight of the road and you can't really see our houses.

My eyes glanced over at the Lennox's house and saw many fancy cars parked in front of their house. A Porsche, Camaro, two Lamborghini (the same ones from earlier), Peterbilt semi, Dodge Charger cop car, bright neon green ambulance Hummer, and Ferrari 458 Italia. That is a lot of expensive cars over there, definitely three times the money I will ever make in my life and by this point, my eyes were literally bulging out of my head.

Will has what I call car heaven over there and instead of heading towards my house, I turned towards his house. He ditches me to hang out with some rich punk's, how can he resist a beer by the greatest bonfire creator and steak cooker? It's downright awful to leave me hanging like that and invites my absolute, well maybe not the dodge, favorite cars over to his house.

A shiver goes down my spine the moment I step out of my truck and it wasn't from the cold, the temperature was about fifty degrees. All these vehicles gave me an overwhelming sense of being watched and an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ignoring it the best to my abilities and walking up to the front door, I knock and was greeted only a second later by Will himself.

"So, you ditch me for an amazing bonfire, great steaks, and have high end cars parked in front of your house. What is the meaning of this?" I questioned with a hint of joking in my voice. He put on a horrible 'will you forgive me' face and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, these guys are from my division and wanted to come over," he replied. That… that seemed off like he was lying yet not lying at the same time and I gave him a skeptical glance before rolling my eyes.

"You know, you could have invited them over to my house for a few beers by the fire and a taste of amazing steak. The offer still stands, the day is yet to be over," I offered with a hopeful look on my face. He sighs, looks back at the large group of people behind him in the living before returning his gaze to me, and nods his head to confirm.

"Okay, you guys can come over right now if you want or you can latter but don't be later than six." With that, I hop off the porch and made my way back over to my truck. I drove back over to my house and went inside to get ready for guests.

A few minutes later, the door opens and Will announces they have arrived. Sarah and Annabelle come into the kitchen and begin helping even though I told her not to. "You are cooking for eleven people, you will need some help," she responded. She does have a point but won't leave the kitchen so I let her be and she was good to have help.

We worked side by side preparing the steaks and other side dishes like sour cream, cucumbers, and onions with vegetables with a dip made from Hidden Valley. We talked about things like boys, she wanted to know if I liked anyone which I don't, and how Zeke and Dom are doing.

Everyone was outside, including the dogs, when Will finally introduces the unknown people to me. "This is Orion." He points to the extremely tall person from a couple of days ago.

"This is Paxton." He points to a man in a cop uniform with black hair and a white stripe running through the middle of it. Paxton stood at about 6'3, making him taller than me. He had the same glowy eyes like everyone new here but their coloring being an electric blue.

"This is Brian." It was the same young man from before who looked slightly like a bumblebee from his hair.

"Those two are Shawn and Scott, they are twins." Shawn and Scott are the same height (about 6'3) with the same facial features, right down to their eyes. Shawn has brown hair with a cherry red strip going through it while Scott also has brown hair but with a sunshine yellow color. They are the same clothes but staying true to their colors.

"This is Richard." Richard stood a couple of inches shorter then Orion, naming him the second tallest in the group. His hair is white with a neon green stripe running through it, giving me the impression of him being the oldest here. He wore a lab coat and glasses on his face; maybe he is a scientist or doctor by the looks of it. His eyes are a cornflower blue and are glowing like if it was normal.

"Last but not least, this is Marco." Marco is a bright, apple red catching my attention first. He stood at the height of 6'; he's only an inch taller than me. He also stayed true to his colors by wearing a red T-shirt and jeans. His eyes (also glowing, kind of feel like I'm going insane) are a pretty sky blue yet held a hint of anger behind them.

"You already know Jazz and Ian of course, that's not everyone though. Some of them couldn't make it tonight. Everyone, this is Aubrey," Will finished with introducing everyone that I didn't know their names. It wasn't that many people to remember their names, only five people with unique names.

After awhile of eating and making small take by the bonfire, Sarah decided to speak up. "So, anything fun done today as the life of a game warden?" She puts me in the spotlight in front of everyone, my only weakness, being the center of attention. Paxton perks up in the slightest as if he was surprised by her saying I'm a game warden.

"Well, um, I had to pull out a friend of mine who decided to drive on the closed snowmobile trail. He was going over a wooden bridge and his SUV fell through. I used the winch on my truck and pulled him out. Then closer to the end of my shift I was sitting around, waiting for someone to break the law when a fake cop care passed me."

"I had seen him earlier in the week and was about to call into dispatch about when my radio stopped working. I suspect he used some sort of device with RF shielding so I couldn't call in before hightailing it out of there. The second time was today when I gave chase and the same thing happened again. I didn't want to lose him so I continue to follow him until he turned in residential area."

"He was drifting around the corners, gaining feet between us as my truck couldn't turn that hard. I called the chase off and one he left, my radios were fixed once more. I sent a BOLO out for him to be found and hopefully someone in the state of Maine can find him," I told them the story.

Will had a worried look on his face. "Brey, what did the cop car look like?" he question his voice firma and filled with seriousness of the situation.

"The reason I knew it wasn't a real cop car was of the quote on the side of the rear. Instead of it saying 'to protect and serve', it said 'to punish and enslave'. Another thing, it didn't have the department on the side of the doors like it should have," I answered while watching him closely. Something about this wasn't right.

"Brey, I need you to listen to me carefully, you need to call off the BOLO and never, ever make contact with the cop car again. Alright? That car holds a dangerous criminal we have been looking for," Will spoke with seriousness in his eyes.

"Will, I'm an officer. I deal with dangerous people all the time and with the BOLO out, you will find him sooner than later. I'm helping you actually," I argued back and glared at him slightly. We continued to argue you back and forth before Orion got in between us.

"Aubrey, you must listen to William. We cannot have any more human casualties on our hands. If you won't call off the BOLO, I will do it," he urged, authority rolling off of him in waves and at that moment, I knew to follow his orders. I excused myself from the group and made the call; they took it down without questioned and I joined the group again.

"Done, now since that's over, lets enjoy our time by the fire before bedtime," I offered and everyone agreed with me.

Later that night

"Okay, does anyone know how to read a sign?" I question loudly so everyone could hear me, especially those in the back. The Lambos, Camaro (I'll let him slide), and Porsche decided to park next to my Fords and in front of the sign that read 'Ford Parking Only: violators vehicles will be graffiti and later blown up'.

"It's just a sign, it's not like you're going to actually follow through. Right? You wouldn't hurt a half million dollar car?" Shawn spoke up with a hint of nervousness in his voice. A devilish smirk grew on my face and fire danced in my eyes, he just challenged me.

A chuckle leaves my mouth and I placed a sweet and innocent expression on my face. "Oh honey, I will follow through next time. That is your only warning. Next time, I will bring out the paint cans." He looked mildly scared by my words. His brother on the other hand was sending me glares, causing a shiver to go down my spine. What's his problem?

Shawn must have seen the confusion written on my face directed towards his brother and elbowed Scott in the stomach to gain his attention; it worked, a bit too well. Scott returned the favor with the elbow to the stomach and also when Shawn was leaning down, holding his midsection, he whacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey! What was that for, Sunny?" Shawn questioned with a hurt expression. Scott did not like being called Sunny and whack him over the head once more.

"Don't call me that you afthead!" Scott growled at his brother and before it could escalate, Orion got in between the two and told them to stop. Both them, acting like betas to an alpha, said there sorrys to him. Scott crosses his arms over his chest, looking like he was pouting for getting in trouble. Shawn walked over to me and grabbed my hand, acting like that didn't just happen.

He led me over to the red Lambo. "I know you want to take a spin," he offered with a smirk on his face and slowly moving over to the driver side of the supercar. I oh-so wanted to but checking the time on my phone told me it was 10:37 pm. Time for me to get to bed as work is demanding.

"Sorry darling can't. It's past everyone's bed time, especially mine. I got work tomorrow and need at least five hours of sleep to function properly," I declined and walked over to the porch of my house. "Thank you everyone for coming and having a good night with me. Will, you aren't driving home over my dead body. One is too many in my books." He gets it and nodded to agree with him. His buddy, Ian, helped the drunken soldier to his GMC and puts him in the front seat.

Everyone leaves, both the Lambos in the back, Shawn taking his sweet time waving me a farewell. I head back inside with the dogs following me and go into my room to get some needed sleep. All the dishes were already in the dish washer, waiting to be washed.


	6. Chapter 6: The First Roll

"I'm telling you Kods, those cars give me a weird feeling. It's a feeling like real eyes are always watching me but there are no people or even animals around. What do you think?" I rolled out from underneath the1968 Plymouth Fury III and gazed up to the black mix puppy. He gave me a glance before walking over to his doggy bed and lying down on his large dog bed. "Thanks, you're no help at all dog," I scoffed before rolling back underneath the low rider.

It was true though, each time that I could see any of their vehicles, it feels like I'm being watched. That causes a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, adding on to the list of weird things beginning the day Will got back from his deployment. They always say trust your gut and not your head.

My boss told me to start my shift a couple of hours later, giving me some time to work on my brother's old car. It needed new oil and a couple of upgrades with Cool Desert Nights coming up in June which is a little over two months away. She hasn't been ran in almost eight years; the last past Cool Desert Nights I couldn't make with my job getting in the way but being a game warden is a first priority.

"Hey Brey," Will called out, scaring me into banging my head on the undercarriage of the car. Groaning a little bit and rubbing my head to soothe out the pain, I push the cart underneath me and sit up once my body could. I set a glare at him and he sheepishly rubs the back of his head with a 'sorry' expression on his face. "I came in here to see what you're up to. Since you haven't left for work, I was getting a bit worried."

"Ah, thanks for worrying over my well being Will but as you can see, I'm totally fine," I responded before going back underneath the car to check on how the draining is going. I didn't want any oil on the floor to ruin it and stain it; this house isn't mine, I rent it.

"I never knew you owned an old car like this," he stated, not leaving just yet.

Still, under the car, I gave him a short answer. "It was my brothers." This was my brother's first car and he absolutely loved it, well until some lady on her phone decided to plow into the back end on the left side, totaling the car. My brother was crushed as this was his baby; he did get another car, a 1979 Chevy Camaro, yet it wasn't the same.

They sold it to a junkie for money and also getting money for the claim, I begged the junkie not to turn the car into scrap parts and he never did. I bought it back from him, bought the only other trunk in the United States, and begun the process of fixing her up. She has been sitting here for years, collecting dust, with everything fixed up in the rear end. It cost me big bucks in the end, it was worth it though.

"Your brother owned this? My dad used to own a fury too, he would never let us drive the thing when we were older," he commented. "Are you going to show it off in Cool Desert Nights?"

"Yep, whole reason of getting her oil changed and ready to roll out," I replied, my eyes trained on the fixing a wired mostly chewed off by a rat or something on the lines of that. It produced a tiny zap of electricity, shocking my hand and causing me to hit my head again on the underside of the car. "Ow." I rub my head with my hand glare at the wire that shocked me.

"You okay?" he questioned and kneeled down to look at me. I nod my head to answer his question before getting back to work on the wire while being much more cautious than before. Rather not get shocked again. "When are you going to take it out for a ride?"

"Probably after work, if I'm not too tired with dealing with everyone's lies and bullshit if you know what I mean," I joked about.

"I do know what you mean; some of the new recruits I had to deal with while stationed were the worst. Some knew not to goof around but the rest were like a cat with a laser pointer. But, do you think I could come with you?" he questioned with hope filling his voice.

"I'm so glad I didn't go into the military, being surrounded by idiots with guns is not on my bucket list. And I'm not making fun of any of them, it's just some people shouldn't be allowed to join. Sure, when you see my truck pull up to the house, just come over and we'll see how well she has been doing." I hoped my day won't mess up my plans. Hopefully, I didn't jinx myself, it's like saying the q-word while out on patrol, don't ever say that word.

"Okay, see you then." With that he left me to continue tweaking up a couple of things. She was in working order and could be safely driven on the main road without any problems, just a few bolts needed to be tightened and a good look over wouldn't hurt.

The alarm on my phone went off at the time it was set at, 10:00. It gives me enough time to clean myself up after being underneath a car that has been sitting there for over seven years. I turn off the alarm, close the hood of the Plymouth, and wiped my hands off before heading back inside from the three-car garage; it's pretty big for this house, can't forget about the barn in the back that is empty.

Taking a nice, burning hot shower to rid of the grime stuck to my skin and washing my dirty hair, I exit the shower and get dried. I get dressed with hips swinging to the beat of the song playing while humming the words and made my way downstairs. The dogs barked from the garage, wanting to be let back inside the house to which I did and also closed the open garage door.

After getting ready, eating breakfast, feeding the dogs, and putting them back in their kennels, I grabbed everything needed for the day and hopped in my truck. I start my patrol vehicle, turned on the radio, and called into dispatch that Wildlife 104 is ready for the day. I left my house for the main road and got a bit bounced around by the potholes.

While patrolling around, making sure there's no one up to any funny business, I receive a call from my sergeant to report to the eastern part of my district. It was strange on the reason for the call, she didn't give me any information on what reason for me to go there but I didn't question her and left the moment she hung up.

When I got there, it wasn't as bad as my mind wanted to think to be; like a pile of dead bodies and a pile of heads from said bodies or something relevant to death in general. My mind is weird and thinks up the craziest things to happen.

The ground was greatly disturbed as if some giant with shoes on was having a tantrum and kicked around the dirt. Trees were either knocked over from a great force or plucked out of the ground and thrown around like rag dolls. In a couple of places, small spots of fire were burning, threatening to cause a forest fire to start.

Firefighters were already on sight, putting the small fires out before they could grow by the fuel they are surrounded by. Before they could ruin too much of the sight, I snapped some photos of the area in its freshest state for whoever the case will be assigned to. I didn't want to be with the case, already have a few yet to be closed (needing to find more evidence. Robert you are super close to being put in jail).

Tipps was standing off to the side, speaking with an officer of the nearest city department until she spotted me and waved me to come over to her. I followed her silent order and stride over where she is with confidence in each step.

"Officer Cade, this is Warden Lambert. She is the Conservation Officer in this district and will be taking over the case from now on," Tipps introduced me and assigned me the case. Groaning internally from being given the case, I smile kindly at the hot officer standing to the left of me. But what threw me off was he gave me the same feeling as the others, it was unsettling all in all.

He was wearing a normal navy blue officer uniform without the hat and the shiny gold badge on the left side of said uniform. He stood at a height of about 6'1 with a cleanly shaven face and a chiseled jawline you could cut cheese on. His hair is black with a white stripe going through the middle of it. His eyes are what caught my attention; they are blood red and glowed in the daylight like the others I met.

"Nice to meet you Officer Cade but as you heard, I have been assigned to this case and need to get work on said case," I spoke with my voice monotone, filled with the seriousness of the case. When in this business, there is barely any time for fun and games, especially at a strange scene like this one. He gave me a scowl for talking to him like that but turned away and left to his vehicle which looked familiar in some sense. I turned to face my sergeant who called me down here. "Any witnesses or game cameras?"

Tipps shakes her head. "Nope, no one was in the area when whatever happened happen. The person who called in the sight because of the danger of causing a forest fire. God, we don't need any more of those. Anyway, she's over there speaking with Hardy." She points to where Warden Hardy and a beautiful woman were talking to each other.

From the angle I'm standing at, my eyes could see she was a perfect hourglass figure, not too big, not too skinny. She stood about 5'7, the normal height of a woman without high heels on. Her head was covered in a gorgeous brunette with highlights of a darker pink and ran to her shoulder blades.

Nodding my head to my sergeant and traveled over to where the woman and Hardy are standing, Hardy and I dip our heads to acknowledge our presence to each other. "Tipps handed me over the case. Could I have the notes you have taken from the witness?" I questioned, with my voice holding no emotion.

Hardy doesn't complain as he knows I'm a higher rank than him; he tears out the only page of notes he wrote from the witness and handed it over to me. He leaves us to it and goes over to talk with Tipps.

"Hi, my name is Warden Lambert and I'm with Fish and Game. As you're caller for the scene, we have to interview you for any clues on why or what has happened here. Warden Hardy most likely already asked you these questions but I would like to run them with you again, if that's alright with you?" I questioned while pulling my notebook and pen out to write everything important. I finally looked up to her at the end of my sentence and held in my gasp and shock.

Her eyes were the glowing just like the others but a different blue; the coloring around the irises were a bright sky blue and the further you got from the irises, they turned to a mixture of blue and purple. Damn, she's hot!

"That's totally alright. My de-name is Ar-Amber. Like I told the other officer, I was riding down from seeing a couple of friends at the gravel pit up the road and saw this sight. I was afraid of the fires spreading and called the cops so they could put out the fire," she explained briefly and pointed at a dark pink like her hair motorcycle parked off to the side of the road. She stumbled on saying her name correctly and was going to say something different then 'name', making me suspicious of her and how she is acting.

This beautiful woman and her bike seemed to give off the same feeling as the others (including Officer Cade). What in the hell is going on around here? Ever since the rumor and Will getting back, things have turned for the worse and bad things are happening.

"Okay, did you see anything of the ordinary? Or anyone leaving the scene or running off into the forest to escape?" I question, doing the normal questionnaire for any witness of a scene. This isn't necessarily a crime scene; no crimes have been committed here.

She shook her head to answer my question. "Sorry no." That's all she gave me with a forced smile. It wasn't much to go on and this case will most likely go cold. There's no evidence on who our criminal is. But none of this made sense; trees being plucked out of the ground like toothpicks, trees also knocked down from some kind of force from the top, and the ground disturbed like a giant came through here and had a tantrum.

"Thank you for giving me information, you may leave now," I offered her before turning away from her and sauntering over to the edge of the road, in front of the scene. The firefighters were done with putting out the mini fires and were making sure they couldn't start up again. I glanced over the sight as if there was anything, the smallest of things, that could lead me to who destroyed part of the forest.

Amber left, taking the weird feeling in the pit of my stomach with her. All of them, including Officer Cade, gave me a feeling that I shouldn't trust them, which I don't, and keep an eye on every one of them.

There was nothing in the slightest that could lead me to what even happened here in the first place. The cause of this was nothing ever shown during training or any case I have read, it left me with a puzzling thought: what in the hell happened here?

"Crap." Was all I could say in the face of the situation.

After the firefighters made sure the fires couldn't start themselves back up, I took multiple photos of the area for when I go home. There will be many pictures for me to look over. It took enough time for everyone to leave while taking the pictures, leaving me to my own doings until the sun was setting behind the trees and mountains.

While standing close to the back of the flattened area, my eyes caught the sight of strange-looking indents that appeared to be footsteps of some overly large being. There was a blue substance on the ground that glowed slightly from the sun leaving the sky and the ground had yet to suck it all up. I take more pictures of the new findings and followed the weird indents and a few drops of the blue substance until reaching a dirt road that connects to the other road.

The indents stopped on the road were the sudden placement of tire tracks appeared in the same place. It couldn't be a loader or anything big enough to hold this big of a creature, whatever it is. By the looks of the tire tracks, it was of a normal car. My mind reeled around for any explanation of where this being went; a crazy thought crossed my mind: it somehow turned into the car and drove away.

Anyway, need to get back before the sun sets and I'm left out here in the dark for a long hike back to my truck. I travel through the forest for about thirty minutes and reached where my truck is parked. Right as I merged from the tree line, my eyes caught the sight of the rear end of a silver Pontiac driving down the road and followed with the turn of the road, leaving my sight. I was only able to catch half the license plate from getting about two seconds to see the moving cars plate: JAZ and that was all.

Narrowing my eyes in that direction of the suspicion from why the Pontiac was driving down a dirt road, I hop back inside my truck, putting my evidence away, and starting up the truck. I headed home right as the clock turned 6:30 pm and was already feeling the tiredness of the chaos-filled day.

On the way home, I called Will for some help. "Willy Billy, I have a question for you."

"_Don't call me that, it's weird. And that question would be_…?" he requested back.

"I just got assigned a case and was wondering if you could help me with it. I can't really explain it but I'll have you read over the paperwork and what the witness saw. I really need help on this, please," I begged like a four wanting a toy from the store and heard him give a breathy chuckle.

"_Sure, just stop by at any time. We are having dinner in fifteen miut-._" He stopped himself and I heard Sarah's voice in the background yet it was too muffled to hear properly. "_I take that back, thirty minutes. Bum-Brian was helping in the kitchen and burnt the bread. And during dinner, we can discuss your case_." He was going to say another name instead of Brian.

"Thanks but I'm northeast of New Portland and it will take me about forty minutes to get back home. Don't save me a spot. Anyway, I should get home at about seven o'clock; do you have time around then?" I questioned and making sure it's okay with him.

"_Yeah, I'll have a plate of spaghetti waiting for you and no saying you aren't hungry or I will shove the food down your throat_." I sighed in defeat from the battle that didn't even start.

"Fine, see you around seven." I ended the call with a press of a button from the steering wheel and put my full attention to the road. Don't need to crash and cause the commute home longer than it already is; one of the downsides of being a game warden, having to patrol with a huge piece of land that is yours to watch over.

The drive home wasn't the greatest time in my life and I was tired when arriving home. I drove over to the Lennox's house and spot the same Pontiac from the scene with the first three letters of the plate being JAZ. So this is the car because of the chance of it being another silver Pontiac Solstice with the first three letters of the plate being the same when I got a glimpse of it before it turned the corner.

Hopping out of the semi-tall truck and strolling over to the Pontiac, I sat on my haunches and inspected the light coat of dirt on the lower end of the back end. It wasn't enough hard evidence as the driveway is made up of rocks and dirt. I step in front of the car and placed my hand on the hood (ignoring the shiver, my hands were cold for some reason, it gave off in response), it was warm meaning it was used in the last twenty to thirty minutes.

The sound of the front door opening caught my attention. "Brey, why are you touching Jazz's car?" he questioned when he stepped out of the open door. I calmly turn around to face while taking my hand off the warm hood and a serious expression grew on my face.

"Just investigating, doing my job. Anyway, let me grab the papers needed and we'll talk over the reason of me being here," I answered before going back over to my truck, giving the Pontiac a hard, quick glare, and grabbed said papers. We headed back inside to get to work on figuring out what or who did this.

When pulling out the papers and spreading them out for everyone here (Jazz, Paxton, Orion, Ian, Brian, Shawn, Scott, and Richard), I heard Will say the words 'shit' under his breath and at the moment I knew he knew something about it. "What is it Will? Do you know what happened here?" I questioned with my voice firm, hoping to push him to say the truth.

"Ms. Lambert, you need to tell your Sergeant you couldn't find who did these and forget everything you saw. We cannot have you meddling in our business, too many humans have lost their lives because of it," Orion spoke up this time and literally told me to fuck off with this case and never return to the Land of Oz.

"Excuse me?" I reacted with those words being the first to come from my mouth. "I'm sorry Orion but you don't have any jurisdiction over me." I saw the shock on mostly everyone's face for disrespecting Orion. A couple of them seemed like they wanted to attack me." This is dama-," I was interrupted my Will this time.

"Brey, you have to listen to him. You need to step away from everything on this subject and forget it all happened. I don't want you to get caught up in this," Will expresses his concerns. I shake my head with fire dancing in my eyes from the angry slowly boiling inside of me. They are telling me to stop doing my job.

"Will, I don't have to listen to him. Like I told him, he doesn't have any rule over me. And what do you mean by 'I don't want you to get caught up in this'? Is there something going on? Something that is endangering your everyday life and family? I'm an officer of the law; I can help you if you tell me what's going on," I nearly growled with a small glare set on him. All eyes in the room are set on me.

"Brey, I know you're an officer but this is above you and your position. I cannot tell you," Will threw back while rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation. That is when I had enough of this bullshit of this 'I can't tell you because it's above your pay grade'. I grabbed everything on the table, quickly stuffing it back in the folders, and heading out their house.

A couple of the others tried to stop me. "Don't touch me." The sound of my voice must have scared them or at least stop them for the moment, giving me time to get in my truck and do a burnout on the gravel on the way back to my house. I will figure out what was happening, even if it will be the death of me.

It was the next morning when my phone began to quack, gaining my attention. I pick up the phone, seeing it was Tipps, and pushed the answer button. "What do I owe the pleasure of you calling me so early in the morning?" I question with my voice hinting in a joke.

"You are no longer on the case; I need you to meet me at Sunshine Hill's at the beginning of your shift." With that, she ends the call and leaves there with my mouth hanging open and my eyes nearly were bulging out of my head. Wild Bill: 1, Breezy Brey: 0. Well played Will, well played but two can play.

Breaking the law, I copy the papers for me to go over and have the chance to have a clue on what's going on. I did what Tipps told me to do; we met at Sunshine Hill's and I gave her the papers without another thought. I headed back out for a boring day, or at least hopefully.


	7. Chapter 7: Small Talk and Playful Banter

My eyes scanned over the multiple piles of papers in front of me. A few of the papers were hanging on the wall by a tack, giving me an easier chance to see if I missed anything.

Instead of working on the weird case that Tipps gave me six days ago and snatched it away the next day, I was working on the case of Robert Johnson. Over the past two weeks, there wasn't much time to work on it. I have given glances over papers so it could be in my mind while on patrol and hopefully could spot something that will give me enough evidence to put him in jail.

What was in front of me could be enough to put Robert away for a long time but I need to put the puzzle pieces in the right places. The judge won't want to look through everything if it's not in order and will throw the case out the window. I need to get everything in order and get my facts stuck inside of my he-AHA!

Jumping up excitedly from my roller chair and doing a happy dance with the dogs kind of joining me, I shouted out a happy 'yes' before going back to work. I had found hard evidence of him being there and showing him firing the gun on a flash drive found in his truck. It was pictures of his person with his rifle (bought under his name) in hand and pointing it at a doe in the field.

Our main man forgot to get rid of the evidence in time and will soon face time in jail and tickets, lots of tickets. This was a happy moment for me and I called up my two good friends Zeke and Dominick.

"Guys you will not guess what I did!" I cheered with joy pouring into my voice.

"_You finally got laid_," Dominick replied. Classic Dom.

"How about you fuck off Dom. I have had sex before for your knowledge though it was pretty disappointing. Anyway, we're getting off track, I have enough evidence to put Robert Johnson in jail. I finished another case, guys!" I was so fucking happy I could barely contain my excitement.

"_Oh don't be that way honey, I could always show you a good time_," Dom offered, being the kinky bastard he is. It's always fun and games with him, even sometimes when we work together on doing a search warrant or dealing with an arrest.

"_Dom! I don't need to hear that shit, ew. And good job Brey, you finally can put that douche behind bars. We all know how much he needs a time out_," Zeke spoke up to congratulate on my success of defeating a poacher. Every game wardens happy moment is taking down a poacher, they are reason we need to continue our job.

"_But Zee, you have had sex with your wife before. You do have a child, right? So what's the problem with hearing me say some dirty things, you probably said some of them to_-," Dom was interrupted by me.

"No, nah, nein, uh uh, don't need to hear any more! This isn't the reason I called you guys. I don't need to hear about Dom wanting to fuck me or Zeke and Talia's sex life. God, fuck my life," I groaned and hit my head against my table. It hurt and in reaction, I cussed underneath my breath and gently rubbed my forehead.

"_Aw but you love it darling_." I really want to reach my hand through the phone and grip Dom's neck until his face turned purple. All three of us know it's all fun and games and he doesn't actually mean it. Dom and I are alike with our love life: there is no one that loves us.

"Nope, no I don't. Before this conversation gets too far down the rabbit hole for me to crawl out of, I'm going to leave you, Zeke, with the kinky bastard. Love you both! Bye." With that, I hung up the phone right as Zee was complaining about me leaving him with Dom.

This is why we are good friends; we know when we are joking around or when we seriously mean it. It's in the tone of the voice or the way it was said, that's how we tell if one the phone. We also use that while out in public but we can also tell by the body language or the look in each other's eyes.

I set my phone down on the desk with all the evidence on it and attempted to wipe off the smile on my face. Next, I clean up the papers by putting them back in the folder and printing the pictures of the him shooting the deer.

When done putting away the papers in two separate folders and using a rubber band to keep them together, I was about to head over to the Lennox's but my mind remembered they are acting odd. I set the papers on the dining room table and used my phone to call Tipps; she'll set up the court date for me and get the information out to Robert. He can go in easily or fight for his freedom; he's most likely going to choose the latter. He isn't going to plead not guilty for sure, I make sure to get hard evidence on the suspect so there's less of a ten percent of him getting out free.

"_Yep, I can do that for you, see you later. Keep up the good work_," Tipps praises before hanging up the phone call.

The dogs followed me into the kitchen as I picked around for something to eat. My refrigerator was getting bare as I haven't gone out shopping in awhile nor have I eaten much, usually breakfast and lunch while dinner gets missed most of the time. Note to self: go grocery shopping after work tomorrow. Or I could go now… Nah, I'm too tired and it's 11:17 pm.

Shit! I need to go to bed. I close the fridge door and headed up stairs after a long, hard working day. Kodi and Vivi followed close behind me to one of the bathrooms upstairs on the right side of the house. I wash my face and headed to my room for a peaceful sleep; the dogs lay in their normal positions with me and also fell asleep much quicker with me.

'Beep beep beep bee-'. I slammed my hand down on the snooze button and groggily sat up on my bed. It felt like I only got two seconds of sleep. It didn't help that the muscles in my legs felt like they were tighter than a snake coiling around its prey.

Kodi feels me moving and wakes up from his sleep. Being the lover puppy he is, he stands on my thighs with his chest pressed up against mine and licking my face. It was hard to breathe without getting a slobbery tongue up your nose or in your mouth. I kept pushing him away for a couple second breather.

All of this moving woke up missy and she decided to join the party, joining her buddy, Kodiak's, side in licking my face. She is worse than Kodi in licking and actually bites your nose, it hurts, or accidently catching her bottom canines in your nostril.

Not wanting to get suffocated to death by my own dogs, I get off the bed with them following me down stairs. I eat some breakfast, down a V8 energy drink, and let the dogs out for their morning run/potty break. Wanting to enjoy the cool morning before the sun makes it a bit too hot for me, I sit on the rocking chair with another V8 energy drink in my hand while watching the two have their fun.

This is what life should be about: no drama, surrounded with a good group of friends, and not having to watch your back every second of your life. I was able to get out of a sticky situation in Washington state, I wanted to be a game warden there but with the chance of running into my mother or any of the my older friends, I turned tail and ran all the way to Maine.

It's a pretty state with the forests surrounding you and wildlife that could walk through your front yard. It was a dream to live here, away from everyday danger, well except people doing dumb shit.

Time was getting a bit short and I called for the dogs. "Kodiak, Vivian, come." They gladly listened to my command and come barreling like a race horse out of the chute inside of the house. Both of them slip on the hard wood in front of the door and slide into the dividing wall between the living room and kitchen/dining room.

They get right back up, shake off the invisible water on their fur, and run back off around the house. Up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs, repeat for some time until they needed to go into their kennels. Both of them calmly go into their kennels and I lock them behind them.

With the dogs in their kennels, food in my stomach, and uniform on my body, I head out the door and hop into my patrol truck. I start my truck, call into dispatch for wildlife 104 is starting her day, and leave my property for the road. The fun time of watching people doing stupid things or others not obeying the laws set for a reason. Idiots and I'm surrounded by them.

While waiting at the hidden spot where speeders like to do their thing, my phone buzzed in the holder on the dash and almost scaring me from the sudden noise. I was more focused on checking the radar than my surroundings; seriously, someone could come up to me right now, open the door, and drag me out of the truck and I would not still notice them.

Taking my eyes off the radar and passing cars, I change my gaze to look at the quacking phone and used my hand to take it off of the holder. Zeke texted me with a picture attached to it. First looking at the picture, it shows a cherry red Aston Martin One-77 with unique markings on the sides. My mouth dropped in shock and my heart fluttered.

Lamborghinis may be my favorite supercar for style but since they are more known and shown around like trophies, they have lost their uniqueness. But an Aston Martin in the states is less known and amazing to see in person. Fucking lucky asshole, that's like three points to the fake score board.

'_Look what I found_~,' he texted me. I huff out an irritated breath and glared slightly at the phone in my hands, hoping Zee could feel it through the phone.

My fingers danced on the key board to respond as quickly as possible. 'You motherfucking lucky bastard! Where is this? Is it anywhere near the border between us?' I questioned back, adding some angry emoji's for effect. I was really hoping for it to be near the border so I could zip over there and get a good look at the beautifully made car.

'_Hehehe, nope. Quite the opposite, it's about twenty miles from the border_.' That's too far; I'm probably or at least another twenty from the border. It's too far for me to just zip over there and get back to my area before anyone notices.

Cussing quietly to myself and not-so-gently banging my hand against the steering wheel, I give the last words in this conversation. 'Asshole, get some more pictures though. Whoever owns that beauty, I want to meet if possible.' With that said and done, I place my phone back into the holder and leaned back in the seat with my eyes carefully watching the radar and cars passing.

The phone buzzed again, Zeke had sent extra photos like I had requested of the Aston Martin. I paid no attention to my phone as my eyes multitasked. I was hoping for the cop car, the one that had the words 'To Punish and Enslave' on the side, to make an appearance and have a fun time chasing it. Will was saying whoever owned the vehicle was 'dangerous', that makes me want to reveal the owner.

It didn't show up today, but tomorrow is another day for searching, maybe then.

After a boring day at the office (the woodlands are my office) with nothing exciting happening, I arrive home and was met by two Lambos sitting in front of my house, right next to Powerstroke. This meant they were parked in front of the sign and they already got a warning about it, they don't learn their lesson.

Hopping out of my patrol vehicle and strolling over to where Scott and Shawn are leaning against their respected vehicle. "What did I tell you about parking in front of the Ford only parking?" I teased with a slight hiss to my words.

Shawn pushed off his lambo with a sweet smile playing his lips as he made his way over to me. "Come on, I see how you look at me-my car. You won't mind us parked here, right?" He was trying to act all sweet to butter me up; I'm a stubborn woman, you can't break past what I say. What caught my ears though the slip up of saying me before he corrected himself. I take note of it mentally.

"Honey, I will agree you guys do have amazing supercars but that doesn't mean I won't go back on my word. I already gave you your only warning. From now on, watch your cars or they could meet a…uh," I paused, giving him a playful smirk for affects, "deadly end of a steel wool sponge." There was a glint in my eyes as I gazed up at him, his eyes captured mine from the beauty of them. I had to force myself to look away.

"Anyway, what are you two doing here? Is there not enough parking at the Lennox's?" At this point, I was poking fun at him for my amusement.

He rolled his eyes, a small smirk on his lips, and scoffed lightly. "No, we were wondering if you would like to go for a drive?" he question and received a glare from his twin Scott.

"Actually, I'll one up you. I want to take my pups to the dog park so they can run their energy and you can join me if you want." This time, Scott gave me a glare out of the blue; I didn't do anything to provoke him, did I?

"We'll take you up on that offer," Shawn responded.

"'Kay, let me get changed first and grab Powerstroke's key so we can head out. You can come in if you want just don't break anything, please." They, mostly Shawn, Scott is reserved and harder to read about his personality unlike the others seemed to be trouble makers by the way they held themselves. I led them inside of my house before heading upstairs to my room.

The reason I didn't release the hounds yet was I didn't want them to trample the twins, though they did seem fit enough to deal with the dogs.

Changing my clothes to a maroon shirt that hung loosely off of my shoulder and was a V-neck with string pulling the V-neck a bit tighter than the rest of the shirt, I pull up a pair of black jeggings to meet at my waist. I can't wear normal pair of jeans because of my thunder thighs and my slimmer waist and I hate belts in the first place so it was a no-go.

Once done with changing out of my uniform and putting my hair into a normal braid, I head back downstairs and saw the two of them having a conversation with each other and not touching anything; maybe my feeling way wrong about them. I ambled into the kitchen and grabbed my keys. "Okay boys, let's hit the road." I released the dogs from their kennels and led them outside with a 'let's go bye-bye' so they know we are leaving the house.

Both of the dogs headed straight to Powerstroke and waited not-so-patiently at the back passenger side door. The moment it opened to the point they could jump in, they did, well Kodi nearly pushed Vivi out of the way. She places her paws on the running board and looked back at with those pathetic puppy eyes' she's pathetic in the first place but I love her anyway.

"Vivi, what am I going to do with you?" I said to myself and helped her up into the lifted truck. Vivian can get in there just fine on her own but when she is too lazy to do it, she'll give me that look of 'help mommy'. She's lucky I love her so goddamn much.

Closing the door behind them as the sound of the two Lambos starting up reverberate in the air one after another, I hopped into the driver side of the truck, started it up, and rolled down the windows in the back halfway. I locked said windows so they couldn't accidently roll them down themselves, it has happened before.

We headed away from the house and onto the main road that connects our houses to everyone else. The drive to the nearby dog park in Jay wasn't as peaceful as predicted; Vivi was calmly sticking her head out the open window while Kodi kept pacing back and forth between the two windows in excitement, he already knew where we were going.

Once we arrived at the turn off, I slowed down greatly as the road was worse than my driveway with all the potholes. Hopefully the two supercars can make it through here; the beginning was the worse of the small stretch of gravel/dirt road to the fenced in area of the dog park.

In my side mirrors, I saw Shawn following me carefully over the potholes like me while his bother in the sunshine yellow Lambo stopped at the turn in and revved his engine.

Getting out of the now parked truck and giving the yellow Lambo a weird glance, I turn my gaze to Shawn who parked next to me. "So, is your brother going to come or not? If you made it, he sure can," I questioned and crossed my arms over my chest and giving Shawn a non-amused expression.

He turned his back to me and waved at Scott to come over to where we are. Scott revs his engine before ever-so-slightly going over the potholes and parking next to his brother. "He doesn't like getting his paint job messed up," Shawn answered the silent question for me. It does make sense, I wouldn't want my half a million car to get scratched or paint to get dirty.

Scott slides out of his supercar with a scowl on his and he faced me while still on his driver side. "You should have told us there were holes in the ground before getting here or I wouldn't have come here in the first place," he growled, he literally growled at me. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed from irritation.

"Sorry, but you didn't ask," I sassed back before opening the driver back side door for the dogs to jump out and that they did. Kodi was the first out as he is the bigger of the two and went straight to the gate with Vivi on his tail. I release them into the large fenced area and they went to the nearest pack of other dogs.

There weren't that many people here for the afternoon and it didn't surprise me. Most of them were standing with a partner or by themselves, talking with each other or staring at their dogs play with others. Benches were spread out for people to sit down if they wanted yet only one bench was being used.

It was a boring day at the office with a lot of walking to check fishing licenses or people under the influence of alcohol to drive. People drink even on the weekdays while out, having fun with their buddies while fishing. I didn't want to stand on my tired and sore feet so I led the two over to an empty bench and sat down with a content sigh.

"Sounds like you had a rough day," Shawn commented on my sigh. I kept watching the two play with the other five dogs here.

"A lot of walking and dealing with stupid people, the usual for me. No one knows the laws anymore and gets ridiculous sometimes of the stupidity of them that I feel my own IQ drop from hearing them talk," I complained about the downfall of being a game warden.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Scott let the smallest of smiles play his lips while his brother breaks out laughing from my comment. I also let a smile grow on my lips at Shawn's reaction; these two aren't that bad for the name given to them, the Terror Twins.

We fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence after Shawn quieted down and about five minutes of sitting in silence, I decided to speak up. "So other then racing for fun, what do you guys like to do in your free time away from being a soldier?" I wanted to know, I want to get to know them better if we are going to hang out.

"Sunny her-," Shawn started but was interrupted by Scott smacking him on the back of the head and grumbling 'don't call me that'. "Anyway, my twin loves to draw and specially paint." He was acting like he was showing off the most beautiful diamond ring to the world and was proud for everyone to know he owns it.

A look of shock passes over my face from hearing the reserved adult loves to express himself through drawing. I turned my head to look pass Shawn sitting next to me to look at Scott. "You like to draw? That's cool. You don't seem like someone who would draw but the quiet ones do hold the most secrets," I gasped quietly. He turned his head away in embarrassment and I saw before he turned away a red tint on his face as if he was blushing.

"Yeah, I used to but I didn't have enough time while fighting so I stopped and focused on the outside world." A small flicker of remorse bloomed inside of me from his words. The reason of his talent being wasted was fighting a battle that didn't need to happen.

"Don't give up, please. I used to draw when I was younger for the fun of it but I always thought I was a terrible artist and gave up. I wish I didn't and you shouldn't either. Take my advice: don't give up on your dreams." It sounded like I was begging and felt like it too but it needed to be said, that's how I became the game warden I am today.

Scott faced me with a tiny emotion of hope appearing in his eyes before it quickly disappeared and he gazed out in front of him towards the group of dogs playing around. A feeling of pride grew in my chest at the sight of getting some sort of emotion other than anger out of him.

"For me, I love to prank bo-people. If you dare start a prank war with me, you better be prepare to hold yourself against me," Shawn explained his hobbies. Though he almost slipped up on saying something else then people.

"I do like a challenge," I commented and gave him a smirk. He returned it and nudged me with his shoulder.

We watched the dogs play for about thirty more minutes and made small talk between the three of us. I called for the dogs, hoping they would listen to me because they act like they aren't my children when we are here. My wish wasn't granted as they continued to play with other dogs, well until they got close enough for me to grab one them, Kodiak was the first to be captured.

Vivian saw her partner in crime was captured by me and came up to us, allowing me to also grab her collar. I lead my four followers back out of the fenced area and loaded the two dogs into my truck. The other two went to their respected vehicles and started them up with a quick rev to follow after. God, I feel like I'm in heaven.

Hopping inside of my truck and starting said vehicle, I backed out of the parking space while being careful not to hit anything and head home after a long day.

When we arrived home around 7:30pm, the two continued to drive down towards the Lennox's, leaving me alone in my driveway. While sitting in my truck, I remembered that I needed to stop by the store to go grocery shopping because I forgot to go after ending my shift. Fuck my life!

Releasing the dogs and putting them back in their kennels as the back of the truck cabin will be used, I head back to my truck and hopped inside.

Turning my truck around and heading back towards town, I get stocked up on the needed supplies to live. The entire back of the truck cabin was filled with human food while the bed of the truck had three bags of dog food. I probably spent about five hundred dollars on food.

**Who's having fun on the Coronacation? Not me. I have six weeks off from school. Luckily, they can't make us do any work since not all of the kids have access to internet or electronics. Now that means I'm stuck at home, unable to go anywhere. Yay.**


	8. Chapter 8: Double Trouble

**I'm so sorry about the formatting again! I checked it too after posting the chapter and it was fine for me. Thank you for alerting me though. I hope everyone is practicing social distancing by reading this story... Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to put a joke in here.**

The sun shone high in the sky, turning the outside air to be fifty-three degrees in the spring. Summer is coming up and everyone will be on their boats, having fun in the heat. Me though, I will be melting from the 'extreme' heat of ninety to hundred degrees while patrolling on a boat, making sure the laws are being followed by everyone.

My patrol truck's A/C was on half the power and the temperature read sixty, the lowest it would go. It was the perfect temperature to be sitting inside the cool truck and while watching people fish the nearby lake. Well, that was until my eyes caught sight of a navy blue and white Mustang Saleen S281E.

A smirk grew on my lips as I put my truck into drive, giving chase after the runaway police car. I pulled behind it like any normal person would do and hoped whoever was inside didn't recognize me from before.

In the few seconds given to me for a look over the mustang, it was in poor shape compared to the last time I saw it. The paint was shredded and the words on the side were slightly hard to read. The lights on top were almost all busted out while a few spots on the paint had the same blue substance from the weird sight when Will told me not to follow through with the case. I felt slightly bad for the vehicle but quickly shook the feeling off, why would I feel sorry for the inanimate object?

My wish wasn't fulfilled as the lights and sirens were activated on the fake cop car. They zoomed forward with its tires squealing at the sudden speed from the wheels.

Turning on the lights and sirens that my truck is equipped with, I follow behind and while having trouble keeping up with the cop car. Mustangs are meant to go and my poor patrol vehicle could never reach the speed of a mustang, even in its dream. I called off the one man chase and let them go while giving them a glare.

Out of nowhere while sitting at a red light, my radio goes off and dispatch gives me this: "Wildlife 104 11-60 and 11-71, assistances is needed." An 11-60 means hazard area attack and 11-71 means fire, which most likely means the nearest fire department has been called to the scene.

She also gave me the coordinates for wherever the attack happened. I don't know why she only called me out if it sounded as dangerous as it did.

Once again, I turn on my lights and sirens to alert everyone there is an emergence for me needed to be there and checked the opposite lane for anyone coming. There were three cars coming but they were slowing down in confusion of where the sirens were coming from. I took the given opportunity and crossed the lane of traffic carefully just in case there was a speeding car I didn't see.

It took about ten minutes to arrive at the sight that looked close to the one from before. My eyes caught sight of a familiar black GMC Topkick truck and red and blue flamed semi-truck and they widened in surprise and confusion. What are they doing here? We are way too far from the Lennox's house for a good reason. There's nothing out here in the first place, just hills and mountains of forestry.

Though the two vehicles here did have some damage to them it didn't seem like it was from another car or even a tree. There were scratch marks along the frames of both of the vehicles, as if a huge bear decided to attack them. That was the slimmest chance possible of that happening.

What surprised me and made me more suspicious of them was a couple of spots on the ground around them and on themselves was the same blue substance from the sight and the cop car. Nothing was adding up at the moment and my brain was starting to hurt from the over thinking of the situation.

Will, Ian, and Orion were standing off to the side with their shoulders sagging. Orion tired to act like he wasn't tired or anything on the lines of that but sadly failing. Will had a couple cuts on his face with dirt and sweat covering his body. He was still in his uniform which had a couple of holes and cuts in it with dirt and grime sprinkled over his body.

Ian was in the same condition as Will; ripped clothing, cuts littering his body, and dirt covering almost every square inch of his body.

Stepping out of my patrol truck and making my way towards the group of three, I greet them once I reached them. "Hey Will, Ian, Orion. What are you guys doing here? And what's with the body harm to all of you?" I questioned, really wanting him to answer with the truth. Yet lately, I don't know whether or not to trust my family friend of years.

Will jumps from the sound of my voice and spins around with a worried and shocked expression on his face. He must've not known I was coming, not surprising as he and his buddies were facing the wrecked area. "O-oh he-hey Brey, I didn't know they were sending you here." He was acting nervous about something and I didn't like one bit of it.

"Yep, this is part of my area in the first place and I must have been the closest one to the scene. What are you guys doing here? And what did you guys go through, both you and your vehicles?" I inquired, acting like an innocent puppy.

Orion was the first one to respond and beat Will from answering. "That is none of your busin-," he was interrupted by Tipps.

"Warden Lambert, get your ass over here before I drag it over here!" Tipps ordered with her voice sounding firm with no room for argument. Slightly dipping my head from embarrassment and avoid the gazes from the three men in front of me, I turned around and made my way over to her.

"That wasn't that hard, was it? Just like last time, this will be your case and if you need to take tomorrow off, you can," she offered before snapping her head over to the three I was just talking to. "Do be careful around them, something about them has me on edge. Also get their statement; they know something that we don't know." With that said, she leaves me to go talk with Decker who just arrived. This is southeast from his district and about three miles from the border between us.

Heading back to my truck while having the feeling of being watched grow every second (specially being around the vehicles), I grab my notepad and made my way over to the group of three. "So I need to take your guys statement as my sergeant ordered for it to happen," I explain my reasoning for coming back over.

"But we weren't here when whatever happened here happened," Will argued with an innocent look growing on his face. He was playing a game well known to us officers of the law: possum. It took all my willpower to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"Then do explain why your clothes are in the condition they are in and why you are in your uniform?" I pointed out and flipping to an empty page in my notepad, ready to take the important details of their story. That's what happens at things like these, they tell a story with it benefitting themselves and placing them as the hero or victim.

"I-I was training with Ian nearby when we felt the ground shook and we found this. The cops were already here so we decided to check it out." He stumbled on his first word, meaning he is nervous about something and he's lying about what he said. The story is too short and straight to the point and like I said before, we are too far out for them to have a good reason on being here. This area is near whereabouts of the rumored secret military base.

Even though he was lying about the story, I write down most of the details of the two sentenced explanation of what he gave me. "Is there anything else you would like to add?" I was being hard on him for a reason; whatever is going on is threatening his and the general public's life.

He shook his head, avoiding eye contact with me and making the ground seem more interesting then looking at me. "Okay, thank you for your time. If you have anything more to add, you know where you can find me." I leave the three to go to where the scene is.

Just like the last time: the ground was disturbed terribly, the trees were pushed down by some great force or pulled out of the ground like toothpicks, and a couple of small fires that the fire department was taking care of. This time though, it was a much bigger piece of land destroyed. What in the hell is going on around here? That was the all-time question and I wanted it to be answered yet a bit scared of what I might be getting myself in to.

The fires were gladly being put out and the firefighters making sure they can't start back up on their own. The original area was already disturbed by the firefighters and wasn't in its freshest state, giving me a harder time to decide on what happened here.

After taking pictures of the area, sitting in my truck, and thinking over everything that just happened, I packed the notes into a new folder and put them in the center console for when I get home. I continue on with my shift after everyone left while having my processing side of my head go over what evidence there is.

Later in the day, when the clock struck five, I called into dispatch for the end of my shift and headed towards home. Hopefully Will has come to his senses and wants to tell me what really happened or this case could never be solved.

The same cars sat in the driveway of the Lennox's house: Pontiac (still suspicious on why it was at the sight from before), Semi, Topkick, Camaro, two Lamborghinis, police car, and an ambulance. Sadly, the Topkick wasn't at my house meaning my friend didn't think to tell me the truth about the situation at hand.

My thoughts were changed when the Topkick started up on its own and Will comes out on his own. He hops into his truck and drives down the road connecting our houses together. I was already out of my truck and digging in the back passenger side of truck for the papers of the case by the time he pulled out. Will and Ian (I have no idea where he came from) jumped out of the tall truck and strolled over to me.

I stood there with my arms crossed, waiting for one of them to start speaking first. "Brey, you need to lay off searching and turn over the case. Just stop letting your curiosity take over, 'curiosity killed the cat-." I interrupted Will.

"'But satisfaction brought it back.' No one knows the ending of that statement. Anyway, it's my job to do figure out who is destroying private property and breaking laws. Will, stop trying to tell me stop doing my job because you're wasting your breath." I was making sure to act like the boss here before turning my back on them and walking up the front stairs. Yes, I knew my words were a bit rude but he needed to know I wasn't backing down; I'm too stubborn and ornery to let him push me around.

Will stood there with his mouth dropped slightly and his eyes held shock within them. "Wait! Aubrey, please listen to me. I don't want you to get in the mix, just please take my advice and turn over the case or something like that."

The only thing that came to mind was: "What is this 'mix' you talk about?" Will got this look on his face and I knew what it meant, he couldn't tell me. I glared at him quickly before turning around and heading inside of my house without saying another word to him or Ian. I was getting fed up with them telling me to stop doing my job and act like there's nothing wrong going around here.

Both of the dogs jumped happily in their kennels, waiting for me to let them out, which I did. They raced around the house, chasing each other and wasting some of their energy before having their dinner. Vivian woofed hers down in matter of a couple of minutes while Kodiak took his time. She has always done this yet she isn't food aggressive and doesn't care if I touch or take it away when she is still eating.

Once they were done eating, I let them outside for their potty break and sat on one of the older chairs on the front porch. It creaked in protest of the added weight but was able to hold all one-hundred and eighty pounds of my fat. I relaxed against the wooden chair with a content sigh leaving my mouth. To be honest with myself, I was getting too fed up in everyone's lies and sadly enough: it hurt, by them not trusting me or lying to me, I was hurt by their actions.

Kodiak must have sensed the sadness coming off of me in waves and decided to intervene. He nudged his head against my hand resting on the arm rest and gazed up at me with worry in his eyes.

Some people say dogs can't feel or tell emotions humans are feeling, this would prove them wrong.

I smile with a pained expression on my face and notice tears were threatening to fall from my eyes. Using the back of my hand to wipe away the tears as if they never existed, I pet the top of Kodiak's head for comfort and gaze mindlessly out at the trees a thousand feet in front of me.

Vivian decided to join the party by jumping up on my lap with her claws digging into my thighs and attempted to lick my face. I intercepted the lick by pushing her face away; that was a bit hard for me as she somehow gains fifty pounds of muscle to stop me from pushing her away.

After getting up to be out of the way of Vivi's licking, both of the dogs followed me back into my house and lay down on the couches. I, on the other hand, went up the stairs with the notes and new case given to me in hand and set everything down on my desk.

The notes gave me nothing on who has destroyed to parts of private property. Right of the bat, I knew this was going to be a hard case.

It was the next day when another call came in: 11-60 and 11-71. It was the same two codes as the one yesterday and that worried me. I hoped for Will or any of his buddies to not be there or my trust for Will will continue to be stripped away, slowly and painfully.

Arriving at the scene and clenching my teeth in seething anger at the sight in front of me, I erase any sign of anger from my body posture and face expression. Will, Orion, and Ian are standing near their vehicles, having a conversation between the three of them; that was until Ian noticed my truck pulling up and alerted the other two of my presences.

Will showed a bit of disappointment, a hint of pain, and confusion in a matter of seconds before making it disappear. Even from the distance between us, I observed his demeanor: the debilitated manner he held his body at, something is off about him and I didn't like it one bit yet couldn't say anything because he would blow me off.

I step out of my patrol truck and trudged past them to the scene behind the three of them. Once more for the people in the back: it looked almost exactly like the other two sights from before. A sigh escaped my mouth and I rubbed the bridge of my nose in irritation of the situation at hand. What am I getting myself into?

A calloused hand rested on my right shoulder and spun me around to face who it was attached to: Ian. "You should probably call in sick and go home Aubrey. Will doesn't want you out here and get yourself hurt." Is that all Ian wanted to say to me?

In retaliation of his words, I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulder to rid it of Ian's hand. I point my pointer finger at his chest with my eyebrows furrowed and my lips drawn together in attempts to hold my anger in; believe me, it was getting hard to keep my mouth shut. "Now you listen here punk, you don't have any rule over me and cannot and will not tell me not to do my job."

"I swore an oath to protect the public from danger and whoever is destroying private property while being able to get away before anyone can see who the criminal is, I must serve out that oath and protect said public from the criminal." Every few seconds of my speech, I would poke his chest to help get my point across.

Ian must have not liked me touching him and grabbed my wrist on the last poke of said speech. "Don't talk to me like that, I can-." Sadly he was interrupted by Orion putting his hand Ian's shoulder and pulling him away from me. Orion shook his head as a silent 'it's not worth it' telling.

"If you will excuse me, I'm going to do my job whether you like it or not. You cannot tell me not to." With that said and done for, I saunter away from the group of three like I won the argument; well I technically won that argument in the first place.

Surveying the scene once more and not taking any picture as the sight was too disturb by the firefighters to give me a good sight of the area, I hop back in my truck and call my only two trusty friends for a lunch break at Sunshine Hill's. I need to talk to them and see if they seen anything weird going on their district, except taking out the rumored secret military base in Zeke's area.

"_What do I owe the pleasure of having the thunder thighs calling me? Damn those sexy legs_!" Dom was the first to speak from the conjoined called. A blush lightly grows on my face in embarrassment of his bring up my watermelon sized thighs and calling my legs sexy.

"Shut up you overgrown weed. I was wondering if the both of you would like to have a lunch break at Sunshine's. I need to have a warden talk with you guys." By mentioning 'warden talk', they'll know this is very important and needed to have a debate about it.

"_I'm not an overgrown weed! But yeah, what time_?"

"_Hey! I'm here to. I would also like to join on our warden talk_," Zeke finally came from the shadows and announce his presences to us

"What about 12? Does that work you guys?" The time on the dash board read: 11:07 am, giving me enough time to reach Sunshine's from my position, if I don't get interrupted by a call or seeing a familiar Mustang.

"_Yeah_."

"_Yep_." Both of them answered a mil-a-second apart from each other.

"'Kay, see you in a bit." I ended the call and focused more on the road in front of me. I continue to drive for about thirty minutes until reaching my destination and sitting in my truck, waiting for the two other game wardens to arrive. It might take awhile for them to get here from wherever they are.

Finally, right before the clock struck twelve, a familiar forest green pickup truck pulled into the parking lot of Sunshine's. By the looks of the inside, it was Dom's patrol truck and he perfectly backed up next to mine and rolled down his driver side window. I also roll down my passenger window to be able to have a conversation with one of my friends.

"Hey beautiful, need a man by your side?" he joked and gave me finger guns and a wink. I chuckle quietly to myself and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Beautiful, where in the world did you think any of this," I point to myself," is this word beautiful? And men suck their own nonexistent dick, including yourself." Fake confusion is written all over Dom's face as he looked at me.

"How in the hell does a man suck his own dick? That's impossible! Well, I think it is. Even with my seven incher, I can't do that. And yes, I have tried before, there's no shame in that. But I do know someone who would like a taste of mine: you." He was giving me a kinky expression with a smirk playing his lips. Why did I even bring up dick sucking? I regret it.

"Yours is not seven inches, it's more like two honey. Never mind, forgot I ever brought up dick sucking." I rubbed my eyes with my pointer finger and thumb in irritation before perking up at the sight of another familiar forest green pickup truck pulling into the parking lot and pulling into the parking spot next to Dom.

I didn't give Dom another chance to continue speaking about the prior subject by rolling up the window and hopping out of the truck. Making sure anyone dumb enough who would steal a cop car, I press the lock button on my keys and sauntered over to the front of the three trucks. I wait patiently for my two friends with my arms crossed over my chest.

Zeke is the first to join me and stand next to me with his foot tapping on the group, showing his impatience of having to wait on Dom. Said person is taking all the time in the world inside of truck before exiting his patrol vehicle and joining the group.

We strolled into Sunshine's and each take a seat close by the door. One of other waitresses, Kathrin, places menus in front of us and leaves us, going to take an order from someone else.

"So what's the talk you wanted to talk about?" Zeke spoke up after a couple of seconds of silence between us. Inside of the restaurant wasn't quiet at all; it was almost full with people getting lunch.

"The weird things going on around Maine. Ever since Lennox had gotten back, everything has gotten out of control. Our job has become two times harder or that's what it feels like to me," I started.

"Over an hour ago, I was called to the same thing that happened yesterday. I went there on both occasions and Will with a couple of his buddies were there. I'm getting a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I'm near Will's friends cars, as if they are watching me."

"I don't know how to feel about this entire situation. Worst part of it all, Will and his buddies keep telling me to stop investigating; they don't want me to figure out what they are hiding. They are very persistent on getting me to turn a blind eye on whatever they are doing. What about you guys? Have you been told by Tipps to not look into this?"

Zeke is the one to nod his head confidently while Dom slightly nodded his head as if he wasn't sure. "Yeah, on multiple occasions. Like yesterday, she told me you had the case and not to go any further on the case or she would ruin my career. I was too afraid of her fulfilling her promise and dropped the entire thing until you brought it up," Zeke answered.

"Boys, it seems like we have something bigger on our hands." We ordered our food and continued to talk about whatever is going on right under our noses.

At the end of my shift, I headed home and was greeted once more by two Lamborghini's parked next to Powerstroke and in front of the Ford only parking sign; they really need to learn their lesson and they soon will, my free day is coming up.

"Shawn, Scott, what do you guys want?" I questioned while hopping out of my patrol vehicle with my hands holding some of the paper work, I was going to add it to my collect of the tantrum case (that's what I'm calling it).

"Do you want to go for a ride?" Was the first things that came from Shawn's mouth and, of course, I was surprised by his upfront question yet slightly sexual question; I knew what he want.

Squealing like pig being manhandled with an excited 'yes' leaving my lips, I shut my mouth realizing they were watching me acting weird. I cleared my throat and looked away. "Um, I mean yes, please."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Shawn break out with a huge smile on his face while Scott smirks slightly. I straighten my body posture and gazed at the two handsome men in front of me. "Let me go put these away and change into some normal clothes." I rush into my house like a chicken with its head cut off. You would be excited too if you got to ride in a half a million dollar too.

I put the papers on desk, not caring whether or not they were neat, and rushed to put on a pair of shorts (it was about fifty outside) and a sleeveless shirt on. Then sprinting down the flight of stairs and out the door I went.

The passenger side door for Shawn's Lambo was already opened for me and I easy slipped inside the amazing smelling interior. The door itself closed on me all by itself and nearly scared the shit out of me but I blew off like it was nothing from enthusiasm taking over my mind. I was literally jumping in my seat, I was that happy.

"Wow, you seem very excited," Shawn commented as he pulled out of my driveway and drove down the private driveway.

"Who wouldn't be? I'm riding inside of a half a million dollar car. I don't get to ride in one of these everyday unlike you," I responded. He only chuckled at my antics and continued on driving to the main road.

Once making to the pavement and straightening himself out on the road, he spins his tires in a burnout and takes off with a great amount of speed. All you could hear from me was happiness of either laughter or the wide smile on my face.

My happy moment was soon ruined by Shawn bringing up a something I didn't want him to bring up. "Brey, the entire reason I brought you out here was to talk about a case of yours. You heard it from Will, Ir-Ian, and Orion; you need to stop getting into our word. It won't be pretty."

I didn't want to deal with this at the moment of having slightly a rough day. "Shawn, pull over, now." I kept my voice firm, no room for argument.

"What, wh-," I interrupted him.

"Pull over, now." He does what he is told and the moment the wheels on the vehicle stopped moving, I was out of the supercar and walking in the direction of my house. I didn't even spare Scott a glance as I passed him on the side of the road.

Shawn and Scott both back up to catch up to me and the red supercar follows me backwards with his window down. "Brey, I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again, just get back in," he begged while not paying any attention to his surroundings except me.

Narrowing my eyes at him and huffing out like a mad two year old, I stop in my tracks and face him with my hand on my hip. "You better not or red will soon become pink," I growled before hopping back inside of the vehicle and putting my seat belt on.

It stays pretty quiet between us, the only sound being the roar of the engine and the tires gripping the pavement. He begins small talk between us after awhile and we get into a comfortable conversation as he gives me a ride around town.


	9. Chapter 9: Wishy Washy

**I meant to post this chapter last week but forgot to do so. Thank you for being patient! **

A wet, slobbery tongue was dragged across my face almost three times before noticing it a dog licking my face. Pushing whoever decided to wake me up on my day off and sitting up on my bed, I use one of the many blankets on here and wiped off the leftover dog slobber on my face.

Whoever was licking my face decided to go in for another assault on my face and push their cold, moist nose pass my arms protecting my face. It must have been Vivian by the feel of the snout and the weight of the body. She continued her mission on covering my face with slobber, help me!

Not wanting to be suffocated to death by her licking me, I stand up off of my bed and once again wipe all the substance off of my face. She hops off the bed with me and gives my exposed calf a lick for good measure. I do love her with all of my heart but sometimes it gets a bit annoying of all the licking she gives. Especially at random times; she's even done it in the shower, don't ask me how she got in there in the first place.

The clock on my desk across the room read something on the lines eight something; my eyes are blurry from only waking up a few minutes ago. I rub them to help wake them up like the rest of my body before leaving my room with my phone in hand and heading down stairs, not caring what my appearance looked like at the moment.

Right as my foot landed on wooden floor near the entrance of the house, my phone began buzzing in my hand, almost scaring the shit out of me; it was too early in the morning for this bullshit. The caller ID on the screen made me immediately pick up: Will was calling me.

"Is everything alright?" Were the first words to leave my mouth with haste and worry about something that might have happened to him. With everything that has been happening, you wouldn't blame.

Nothing came from his end for a moment and more dread slowly boiled in the pit of my stomach. Finally a quiet chuckle could be heard from the other end. "_Yes, mom. Everything is alright over here, nothing to worry about_." Now I knew he was pulling my leg for the fun of it.

"Oh shut up. With everything going on around here, I'm on edge about the smallest of things," I explained with my voice having an edge to it. "Anyway, what's your reason for nearly scaring to death. I could have fallen down the stairs because of."

"_Boo hoo; you'll live to see another day princess. Okay, pass that part. Ian, Shawn, and Scott are wanted to go to the shooting range with you, would you like to go or not_?" he offered, giving me a really hard offer to pass up on.

As an officer of the law, I can go to the nearby shooting range for free and bring up to three friends for free also. "Sure, let me get okay looking or at least enough for people not needing to give me a second glance while out in public. I'll call you when I'm ready in a bit."

"_Good. If you don't call me in the next thirty minutes, I'll go over there myself and drag your as-booty out of bed myself_." I knew he would live up to that promise and it wouldn't look pretty for the either of us.

"Okay, talk to you later." With that said, I hung up the phone while yawning and ambled to the kitchen as the dogs chased each other around the house, having their morning fun. Don't ask me how they have this much energy from probably sleeping less than me.

I grabbed an apple and Fruit Loops from the counter and latched my mouth onto the apple, not fully taking a bite. I set the box back down on the counter next to where Vivian's bowl is and grabbed her bowl. I fill both of the dogs' food bowls and water bowls and set back in their respected areas.

During this whole ordeal, I took random bites at the apple in my mouth to fill my empty stomach. I didn't have dinner last night and was hungry from both not having dinner or a small and pathetic lunch.

The moment they both heard the dog pellets hit the metal bowls, they knew it was breakfast time. One after another, they rush into the kitchen to where their bowls are usually are and wait not-so-patiently for me to put the bowls back on the ground.

Once both of them are fed and taken care of for food, I chow down on the rest of the apple still in my mouth and take a hand full of Fruit Loops, filling my mouth with it all. I head up back upstairs and into the bathroom for a shower that was needed. As a game warden, you work a lot in a full suit with a bullet proof vest underneath my clothes and it does get hot wearing all of that.

With a clean body and new clothes on my body, I head back down the stairs and into the kitchen to finish eating the rest of the Fruit Loops in the box. There wasn't much left in the first place.

While in the kitchen, taking a sip of water from a glass, my front door is swung open by the sound of it and a familiar voice enters the house. "Aubrey, I told you I would drag your ass out of bed." It was my good pal, Will.

As his loud footsteps make it up the stairs right next to the front door, I saunter over to the front door and was met by the face of Ian, Shawn, and Scott standing in the open door. A smirk was placed on Ian and Shawn's face when they saw me enter their line of sight.

Both of the dogs took off running outside as the chance was given to them. Hopefully they won't be stupid like half the time they are and decide to take a trip through the forest. They are too stupid for their own good.

"Does he usually do this?" Ian spoke up. I only nodded my head, unable to get rid of the small smile on my face.

A couple of seconds later when Will most likely went in my room and saw no sight of me, this is what we heard: "What the fuck? Where are you? You can't hide from me forever." Sometimes he is an idiot when it comes to things like this.

The four of us waited patiently at the bottom of the steps for his to realize that I'm downstairs. I could hear him stomping around upstairs, going through the bedrooms and two bathrooms, and not doing a good job searching for me; he has yet to realize that I'm not up there.

Finally, after about three minutes of waiting for him to be done searching upstairs, he comes down and sees me standing in the door of the kitchen. I had rest my shoulder against the frame of the kitchen doorway and crossed my arms one his game of 'find me' was getting a bit annoying.

Will's mouth formed a 'O' and a look of embarrassment passed over his face. "I didn't see you there." He scratched at the back of his neck and avoiding my gaze before popping his head up to look at me. "No time for this. Go, hang out with these three. Don't shoot them, even though they do get annoying sometimes."

He takes me by my hand and literally drags pass the three in the front doorway and out of my house. I stand on the porch, a bit confused. "Wait, I need to grab my badge and gun. The entire reason for going out today." I head back inside my house and grabbed both my badge and gun with my white Ford keys. I'd rather drive my truck then ride inside of a GMC; don't want to end up on the side of the road, broken down.

"You three," I point to the three men standing in front of the porch, "you guys will follow me, unless you know where the shooting range is." I could tell by the look of their faces, they did not know where the shooting range is. "That answers my question. Just follow me and Shawn, Scott, do not get dumb in the supercars."

With that, I get in my truck and start him up. All four of us leave in our own vehicles and head towards the shooting range with the three following close behind me.

We arrive at the nearby shooting range and park next to each other, all doing a good job at it. I hop out of the tall truck and grab my small 9mm from the center console with my badge in hand holding my truck keys. They follow suit, especially Ian with some sort of modified sniper; it was a cool looking though.

Josh, an employee working at the shooting range, greeted me with a nod as he knows me from being a game warden. "Wassup girly? Haven't seen you in awhile, your job keeping you busy?" he questioned while leaning over the corner on his elbow.

"Nothing much but yeah, being an officer of the law does keep you busy. I'm glad that the snow is gone and the sun is coming to say hi," I responded to the blonde as he handed over my non-lethal bullets for the paper enemies.

"That's true. Stay safe out there, girly," he warned. Raising an eyebrow at him with a tiny smile playing my lips, I took the three pair of earmuffs from the counter and handed them to the three men behind me. Ian gave me a look of confusion before hesitantly grabbing the pair for him, the other two also grabbed them hesitantly.

I leave behind Josh and entered the main part of the shooting range. There were four people already shooting their own firearms with both protective gear on: earmuffs and safety glasses. I lead the three to the farthest cubicles from the door.

Ian stood next to me, loading specially made rounds into his sniper and set himself up on the ledge without his earmuffs. If he doesn't want to wear them, that's his own fault for becoming deaf.

Shawn and Scott stood off to the side without a gun in their hands. I didn't know why Will sent these two if they didn't have a gun to shoot with while we are at a gun range.

"How about this: if I get three bulls-eyes first before you Ian, you become my slave for the rest of the day. And you get whatever you want for the day," I offered out of the blue. I may not be the greatest sharp shooter in the division but I could shoot to save my life, that's for sure.

He steps out of his cubicle with a smirk playing his lips as his gorgeous cobalt blue eyes stared into my dark chocolate eyes. "If I win, you have to wash my al-truck." He was about to say something else then truck. Why do they mess up saying something else then their original word?

"-And ours too," Shawn butted in.

"Wait, this ain't a fair deal. I change my reward for all three of you being my slaves. Good luck you'll be needing it," I challenged with a playful glint in my eyes.

With that said and done, we got into position and readied our weapons, hoping to be the one to win. Shawn counted down and it was on between Ian and me.

Bullets flew towards the paper enemy in front of us, both of us trying our best for one of us to gain the rewards we want.

"Stop!" Shawn shouted and we both stopped on command. My hands buzzed from the power of the small firearm in my hand and I looked at my target first. All I had was one bull's-eye and multiple holes around the small circle in the middle of the paper human's chest; Ian must be the winner.

That was true; three clean shots to the bull's-eye could easily be seen from my position, he had won the challenge. "Fucking damn it," I cursed lowly under my breath and stepped out of the cubicle, giving Ian a small glare in return for winning. I wasn't a bad sport, he won fair and square, I just didn't want to wash three vehicles in sixty to seventy degrees weather.

Ian laughed in retaliation and crossed his arms over his chest. "Want to shoot some more before having to fulfill your side of the agreement?" he questioned.

"Sure," is all I gave him before reloading my gun and taking aim at the paper enemy before releasing hell fire on it.

By the end of our time there, I demolished two papers and Ian was one of the greatest sharp shooters I have ever seen. His aim is unmatchable to anyone in the state, he's that good.

All three of the idiots parked next to me and in front of the Ford only parking sign. I quickly hopped out and point towards the signs for them to see it clearly and given their final last warning of not parking there. None of them listened and stayed where they were. I'm surrounded by idiots.

"You know, this is your last warning and I am dealing with all three of your vehicles right now," I commented while stepping up on the front porch of my house. Scott was the only one I could get a reaction out of, it wasn't a good one in the first place because he glared at me, a scary glare.

We entered my house and the two Lamborghini owners took a seat in the living room while Ian followed me into the kitchen. "Let me change into different clothes and I get to working, 'kay?" I spoke up after setting my gun on the counter next to my badge.

Ian only nodded and headed back out to the living room, also taking a seat on the chair closest to the front door. I go up to my room and change into a short-shorts and a blue tank top, it was already hot for it being around noon. That means my day off is already half-way over and I'll have to wait a month for another free day.

I go back down stairs, not paying any attention to three pair of eyes looking over my exposed skin, and entered the garage, hitting the button for the two garage doors to open. I grabbed soft cloths, a bucket, a jug of car soap, and dragged the hose over to the three vehicles parked in front of the garage.

Unlike Lennox, I don't have a concrete slab in front of my garage and I never had the time or the money for the longest time to put one in.

The inside of the bucket was filthy from it not being used in awhile and sitting inside of my garage. I used the hose to clean the inside of it out, poured some of the car soap into the bucket and filled it once more with water. I waited patiently for the bucket to fill over three-fourths of the way before spraying the black GMC down with the somewhat cold water.

For some reason, it seemed as if the truck had shivered in reaction but I brushed it off from the lack of sleep and food. After brushing the weird sight that was happened and the feeling the three vehicles gave me, I continue spraying the entire truck down and taking the sponge that was inside of the bucket in my hand.

Washing the truck as if it was my own, I scrubbed gently while putting enough pressure on the sponge to rid of the bugs on the grill. The truck continues its shivering for the first ten minutes of working on the hood and grill, slightly freaking myself out. This time I didn't brush it off as lack of sleep or food and made a note to myself inside of my mind to remember this weirdness of the situation.

It was about twenty minutes later after I started washing when the three decided to make their appearance by coming out from the front door. I gave them a glance before getting back to work on paying attention where the sponge went or how much pressure was placed on the metal of the truck. But when my eyes caught sight Ian, he looked a bit… aroused, just by the glance I gave them.

Shawn gave a low whistle at the sight so far done with the soon-to-be shining black GMC truck. "He's looking good. Hope you give the same treatment to mine," he commented with him something in his voice. He kind of acts like my good ol' army friend, Dominick.

"I wash them like my own. I would like for mine to be a clean machine and catching everyone's attention on the streets," I said while paying more attention to cleaning the plastic on the running board and making sure to get the dirt from being stuck in there.

To clean all three vehicles and getting where you could see your reflection easily, it was sure a challenge and took a little over three hours to complete. I was going to get my patrol truck done along the three but something important came up first: a rescue mission.

A pair of hikers have gone missing near the Bigelow Preserve and have yet been heard from since nine o'clock this morning, making our job even hard; they could be anywhere on the trail or nowhere near the trail if they got lost in the forest around there.

Technically this is Decker's and Hardy's district but more the merrier, I guess they want to bother me on my day off. This in one of the reasons I hate my job. Hopefully the hikers were smart enough to stay where they were so it's easier to find them but most of the time that doesn't happen. We would have to go on hours of searching with K-9s and volunteers who are probably as happy as I am about searching for these missing hikers.

"I get going on a rescue mission. If you do stay here, please don't wreck the house and do clean up after yourselves. If you guys leave, please close the garage doors and lock up the house. Bye and be good!" I shouted to them as I hop into my truck and zoom out of the driveway, leaving the three there to think over the opinions given to them.

The two hikers made our job easier by staying near where they believed they got lost. We found them in about two hours and they were returned safely to their worried families. I got some extra bucks for working overtime and that made my day even better in my opinion.

On the way back as the sun was soon to set behind the horizon and bring out the stars, my phone buzzed on the dashboard of my patrol truck. The caller ID read Sarah and in the pit of my stomach, dread simmered at thought of something bad might have happened to her or anyone of the family.

"Hey, darling. What are you needing?" I greeted, making sure none of my worry made it into my voice. It would cause her to worry with me over nothing, if this was nothing.

"Could you pick up Anna from YMCA? I'm stuck in rush hour traffic and a car accident happened and I won't be able to make it in time to pick her up," Sarah answered. I breathed a sigh of relief from it not being as serious as my brain made it up to be.

"Don't ask such inane questions! Of course I will and I heard about the accident over the radio, good luck. It sounds like a bad one."

"Thank you so much Brey, I owe you one." She sounded very grateful for my simple help of picking her daughter up.

"No you don't. Friends help each other in their time of need and I'm going to help you by picking up Anna. I'll hopefully see you in a bit. Wait, do you want me to watch over her or do you have someone at home to watch over her?"

"No thanks, one of the bots will watch over her. I'll take to you later." She hung up before I could question her on her choice of words. Why did she say bots? None of this made sense and was close to driving me nuts from the confusion of this all.

The drive to her school wasn't very long, gladly after having to do a lot of walking and searching through the forests of Maine. I picked up the daughter of Will and Sarah from the YMCA and let her ride in the front seat with me as the back is crowded with game warden stuff, including guns.

"How was your day at school, honey?" I decided to strike a conversation with the kid. Though something seemed to be bothering her, she wasn't as talkative as she usually is and that's what worried me.

"Fine." Was all she gave me with her arms crossed over her chest and eyes staring out the window next to her. Now I knew something was the matter with her and it wasn't a good thing.

"Do have any boys or girls messing with you? You know I can teach them the laws and set them straight," I joked, in hopes of getting a laugh or even a smile out of her. Nothing. This was starting to get a bit more serious.

"No, I'm fine, Aunty. Thank you though." At least she still knows her manners. But the way she said it was put me off even more.

"Doesn't sound like it, kid. You wanna stop by DQ and get a blizzard? I know you like your chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard. Or do I have to get my own and eat it all by myself." I was trying to guilt trip the kid and it worked.

A smile returned to her face as all her inner troubles disappeared from the surface of the earth. She jumped happily in her seat, showing her happiness of me bring up getting a blizzard. "Yes, please. Since Ratch has come by, I can't really have any more sugary things."

"Who is Ratch?" I questioned from the weirdness of this person's name.

"Ratchet. He's the doctor from daddy's team and doesn't like anything very sugary. He's very grumpy too." Ratchet is a strange name for a human but with the combination of names today; I guess it's not that bad.

We continued to talk about this and that, making her come out of the shell she was hiding in earlier in the drive.

I dropped off the kid at her house with the 'bots' who are going to watch over her and headed back over to my own. The three from before thankfully followed through with my offers and closed the garage door and locked up the house. Even though we are far from civilization, there could be someone dumb enough to try to rob from me.

The rest of the day was slow and really relaxing until it we time for bed. The followed me up the stairs and to my bed the three of us went. For once in my life, I actually got a good night sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: When it All Goes Down Hill

**I totally forgot how long this chapter was! Uh, good luck, I guess.**

Vivian gave chase after the larger dog, attempting to get the ball from him. Teaching the two how to fetch a ball wasn't going so well on the second day as they would chase the ball, wanting to be the first one there; but then whoever got the ball first would run off with the loser on their tail. Sometimes the roles would change between the two; Vivian is usually the first one to the ball.

It was early in the morning and it was already getting warm. I only hope the rest of the day won't get to terribly hot as anything above seventy degrees is too hot for me.

Finally after a good two to three minute chase between the two puppies, Kodiak came back and dropped the ball a few feet away from me. Wanting him to know that was what I wanted him to do, he was given a dig cookie and lots of loves and 'good boy's'.

I use the plastic ball holder and thrower to pick up the disgusting ball covered in dirt and dog slobber. They knew to sit when the ball is in the holder before giving another chase after the ball going far between the spread out trees.

Even though Kodiak is the bigger of the two and has definitely the longer legs, Vivian gives it her all time best and gets the ball first. She nearly goes paws over head during the entire process and almost eats shit, literally. The Pitbull mix trots back to me with Kodi trying to rip the ball out of her snout and she drops it about three feet away from me.

For her being the good pupper she is and retrieving the ball for me, she gets her own cookie and lots of loves and 'good girl's'. Kodi, of course, gets jealous of Vivi getting all of my attention and butts his way through, causing me to fall on my butt. They take this opportunity and create a dog pile; both of them aren't the lightest dogs out there.

"I don't think this is how this goes," a voice spoke up out of nowhere. I immediately push the dogs off of me and face whoever announced their presences to me. Gladly it wasn't who my mind thought it was and I relaxed a tiny bit before sending a glare towards Shawn. His brother was standing next to him.

"You really thought it was a smart idea to spook an officer." It was more of a statement then a question from the sound of my voice. It was true though, he was lucky I didn't have my gun on me or he would have a bullet between his eyes, not really.

Shawn only laughed at my statement and gave me a cheeky smile. Which in return, he got the fuck off finger from me. He places a hand over the middle of his chest and a hurt expression grew on his face. "That's mean Brey, I'm being nice here and all I'm getting out of you is meanness."

"Fuck off." I was in a pissy mood from him scaring me and kind of wanted him gone. Kodi stood in front of me, being a barrier between me and the twins and protecting me. He didn't show any aggression towards the two in front of me, which I was glad about.

Instead staying here and making the situation worse, I turned away from the two and strolled over to the front door with the dogs on my heels. "Hey, wait! Where are you going? I'm sorry for scaring you!" Shawn called after me and I could hear his footfalls coming after me.

I ignored him and Scott as I entered my humble abode and Vivian ran off to somewhere in the house and Kodiak stayed with me. The other two followed me into the house without asking me but stopped when they saw me heading up stairs. I needed to change into my uniform and in a bit, head out for a day of watching people being fatuous.

After slipping on my green warden uniform for the day and placing my hair in a near perfect bun to keep it out of my way, I head downstairs and was greeted by the twins wrestling on the ground. The dogs were trying to join the two but couldn't necessarily get into the fight.

"I'm not going to even ask what's going on," I said out loud to myself while pinching the bridge of my nose. Right now, they are being noisome and getting on my nerves. Guess I was right about them, trouble makers for sure and the worst kind of them all: they fight with each other.

Shawn must have heard me speak my mind and stop struggling with his brother. He turned his gaze to me and a cheeky smile played his lips. That was quickly shot down by Scott who took this opportunity to pin him fully to the ground. I heard Shawn whine about me distracting him and tried to get Scott off of him. It didn't work.

The only thing in the kitchen for a quick snack was a banana and the box of Fruit Loops sitting off to the side. Those two things became my breakfast and I went into the living room, sat on the couch, and turned on the T.V to the news station for anything interesting; totally ignoring the two contumelious people on my living room floor.

Scott didn't let up his brother, keeping him pinned against the soft carpet of the living room. "Let go of me! You have held me long enough or do you want to impress Brey over there?" Shawn whined and teased Scott. It did the trick as his brother let him go yet Scott was able to get the last 'say' in the argument by socking Shawn on the arm.

Gladly Shawn acted like the older brother and didn't start up another fight or continue the other one. Instead he plopped his butt next to mine and slung his arm over my shoulders. I give him a glance mid-bite of eating my banana before turning my attention back to the T.V. "Hey, what cha doing?" he inquired.

"Eating," I gave him a short answer and not sparing him another look. Though, from the corner of my eye, I could see him slightly slump down and he removed his arm from my shoulder. I felt a little bad in the end. "I have to go to work in a bit. I so love working with idiotic people." My voice was full of sarcasm.

Both of the brothers caught on, Shawn chuckled lightly and shook his head while Scott let the tiniest of smiles play his lips. "It's true though. No one really knows the laws anymore and think us officers will turn a blind eye to them," I pointed out the truth about lawbreakers.

"We don't think that. We are too fast for you guys to catch us," Shawn challenged. I change my gaze from the T.V to him and gave him a look that said 'really'.

"You really think that?" He nodded his head confidently as if he knew this was the truth. I took the opportunity to show him who is the boss by grabbing his right arm with my left and bending it behind his back, painfully. I use the restraint on his arm to push off him the couch to the ground and held him on his stomach, police style.

I leaned down real close to his ear where he could feel my breath against his ear. "I'm quicker," I whispered before letting go of him and taking my spot back on the couch. A smirk was plastered on my face from the sight in front of me: he was still on the ground, a little out of breath and gazing up at his brother, trying to figure out what happened.

Finally he moves by sitting on his butt and turning to face me with a hurt expression. "That was mean. You didn't have to do that," he whined with his arms crossed over his chest. I laughed at his antics before taking the last handful of Fruit Loops and slowly took pieces from the handful.

"Things aren't fair in life, darling. You should know that by now, you're like twenty-six or something on the lines of that." Scott finally showed a little more emotion by allowing a laugh to escape his mouth; it was quiet and kind of hard to hear. It surprised me and I looked at him with my eyes widen in surprise; which in return he scowled at me and whipped his head in the other direction so I couldn't see it.

"I do, I do but I thought you were a kind femme. Now, I'm on the fence about you," he teased with his signature cheeky smile on his face, he likes to smile like that a lot. Wait, femme? What does that mean? That also gets stored in my mind for next time.

"Well, if you do not like me, then you don't like me. I can't really change that but I don't really care if you do or you don't," I hardened my voice with my eyes slightly narrowing at the childish man sitting on my floor. I leave the two in the living room and put away the box of Fruit Loops and cleaning off the crumbs on my face.

The sound of playful growling caught my hearing and I immediately perked up. I already knew what the dogs were doing and only prayed for them to not be chewing up something in my room. "You damn dogs! If you are chewing anything of mine, I'm going to beat your guys' asses into next fucking week," I shouted at the top of lungs while running up the stairs like a mad woman.

Once making it to the doorway of my room, I gasp in shock at the sight in front of me then released a growl in anger. One of the pillows from my bed was in the mouths of my two dogs and stuffing was spread out on the floor around them.

Both of the dogs drop the pillow almost at the exact time and you could see the fear in their eyes; they knew they were in big trouble the moment they saw me enter the room. Kodiak's ears go flat against his head and he lowers his head near the ground while keeping his eyes away from mine. Vivian, instead, pins her ears against her head and slowly walks up to me with her tail between her legs.

My female dog acts like she did nothing wrong and sits down in front of me, wanting a few pets and belly rubs. That she does not get, I grab her by the collar with her partner in crime and march down the steps. I throw them in their kennels each with a firm 'bad dog' before heading up the stairs once more. Need to clean up their mess and after my shift, pick up a new pillow.

"Damn, you look hot when you're mad," Shawn commented and whistled as he leaned up against the doorframe of my room. I paid him no attention and continued picking up the stuffing and pushing it back in the ripped open pillow; this might be salvageable with my okay skills of sowing.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you, Sides," Scott speaks up from around the corner.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. At least one of you has a brain." So much sarcasm was in the first sentence.

"Hey! Primus, why are you so mean to me?" Shawn pouted like a two year old, he even had the whole act together: his lips pushed out, arms crossed over his chest, and a small hurtful glare in my direction.

I picked up the last hidden piece of pillow stuffing and put the pillow in the closet for safe keeping. The dogs would definitely try again of ripping up the poor pillow. The only good thing about this was the pillow was kind of cheap and has a chance of being fix.

"Anyway, I have to leave real-," my sentence was interrupted by my phone quaking downstairs. I leave the two to their own devices in front of my room and head to where my phone was downstairs.

The caller ID read Bossy Bitch (my sergeant, Tipps) and I immediately picked up the phone.

"Brey, it's another one." I already knew what she was talking about; it has been almost two weeks since the last destroyed sight and nothing that would show me who has done this has made its appearance, leaving high and dry. "What I have heard from this one, its way worse than the others and closer to a town. Please be careful and watch out for anything that would seem dangerous. Don't be the hero."

"Yeah, yeah. You tell me this ever time. Anyway, just like normal send me the coordinates and I'll be there as soon as possible." After that, she hung up on me and a few moments later, the coordinates are sent to me be by Tipps.

It was sure close to a town for sure, maybe someone saw what happened. And why am I being the one called here? My shift hasn't even started and the coordinates are in Decker's district.

Shawn and Scott come down the stairs as I'm getting ready. "What's the rush?" Shawn questioned, giving me an expression of confusion.

"I have to get going on another call. Now get, I have to lock up the house because I don't trust you guys enough for that," I ordered while mindlessly pointing in the direction of the door from the kitchen. I was more focused on grabbing everything needed for the day's work and wasn't paying them little to any attention.

They left my sight and the sound the front door opening and closing signaled they left the house. I grabbed my patrol truck keys, gave my surroundings a good look for anything else needed, and then left my house and locked it up.

I see the rear ends of the two Lamborghinis driving towards the Lennox's house before hopping into my truck and starting my way towards the coordinates given to me. This was going to be a long drive over there without my lights or sirens. With it not being serious like a car accident would be, I couldn't use them this time.

Just like the last few times of discovering these sights, the area was completely destroyed: trees ripped out of the ground or knocked over by some great force, places on fire or creators by small fire blasts from some sort of gun, and the ground itself was disturbed. Everyone here is definitely asking: what happened here? I, on the other hand, was asking who was destroying private property like this. It was already way out of hand at this point.

Decker wasn't here, surprise, surprise. Something smells funny around here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully, if it is something dangerous and the reason on why that 'secret' military was built near here, I could back out in time or I could go down with the whole ship.

While standing in front of the huge sight of destroyed forestry, my eyes caught sight of something silver with a bit of shininess to it. I jog across to the other side where I saw it on a slight incline and use my gloves to pick up.

It was the size of my point and middle finger combined together with a scorch mark on one of the sides. It was heavy though and felt like metal yet at the same time not. The shard was warm in the palm of my hand and smooth to the touch. All in all, I had no idea on what this shard was or if would lead me to whoever is doing this.

Like the other times, the sight was put out by the firefighters of the nearby department. I left after Tipps gave me the case and nothing else could be deciphered by the bare evidence given to me.

Something in the back of my mind told me that Will and his friends, new and old, had something to do with this. May it be them working at the nearby military base or them causing what is happening at these sights, I want to find out what's happening.

My finger pushes a button on my wheel and a pinging noise happened, this activated Siri on my phone. "Call Tipps," I commanded with my voice monotone. The male, British (don't judge me) Siri repeating my words and the phone began to ring.

"What can I do for you?" Tipps voice filled the cab on the truck.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could take the rest of my shift off. I need to talk with a couple of my buddies and hopefully get the newest case closed," I requested with a hint of uneasiness in my voice. I don't like asking for anything, specially asking for time off but this was serious and could benefit me greatly if one of them gives me what I needed.

"Oh my Gosh. Did you just ask for time off? Like, are you serious right now?" I immediately knew at that moment it was going to be a no.

"Yes and I'm sorry for eve-," she interrupted my apology.

"No-no-no-no-no, don't give me any of that bullshit 'sorry' stuff. Of course, I'll send someone to watch over your area for the time being. It's finally happening!" She sounded so joyous about me taking the next five hours off. It has been well over five years since the last time I took time off from work, there's nothing outside of my job that would require me to do so.

"Okay, thank you very much, Tipps. I owe you one," I thanked her for allowing the next five hours off.

"Anytime. Have a fun time with your 'buddies'." The way she said 'buddies' left me with a weird feeling in the pit of me stomach. She hung up after that, not giving me an opportunity to ask what she meant by that.

Next, I called up Will. "Hey Wild Bill, do you have any time to talk? I need to ask you, Epps, and maybe Fig about a few things. If you could, bring them with you."

"How many times have I told you not to call me that? But yeah, I have some time. I'll see if they are free. Where do you want to meet? Sunshine Hill's or somewhere else?" he responded.

"Sunshine's of course and at two, it's going to take me awhile to get back down towards Jay. See you later." I ended the quick call to my friend before flipping a Uie at the light and heading towards Sunshine's. At this time of day, they won't be too terribly busy around two in the afternoon.

The drive back was, of course, quiet and a little nerve-racking as I though over how to approach the situation. If he has to follow his protocol, if he is part of this, then he would have to lock me away from the face of the world. But I wanted to know what is going on in our state and maybe the rest of the other states, especially if the military is evolved.

This isn't something small on any scale and could be dangerous to human kind. As an officer of the law, I'm here to serve and, more importantly, protect the public from any danger. It comes with the job; danger is at every step you take.

It wasn't long until the restaurant appeared on the side of the road and I immediately see the large, black Topkick GMC parked near the closest exit. There seemed to be no one inside by the looks of it. I pull into the small parking lot and back my patrol vehicle next to Will's GMC.

At the moment, I couldn't tell if Will fulfilled my wish of bringing Epps and Figs. If he didn't, it's fine, I only want them to be there for more opportunities if Will won't disclose anything to me.

Through the large windows of Hill's, I could see the three army men sitting in a booth with Ian, talking amongst each other. That was until Fig spotted me entering the building and pointed it out to the other three in his group.

I slide in next to Will and Ian (little bit of a tight fit for the three of us). "How are the four princesses of the world doing?" I teased the army men. Figs and Will roll their eyes, Epps gives a few chuckles, and Ian (the poor guy) look offended yet confused at the same time.

"Doing fine our mighty queen. What about you?" Epps plays along. Figs gave the two of us a bitch face before glaring out the window at anything in his line of sight. Someone is on their period.

"Good, good. But that's not the reason why I called you guys here," I started and took a few second break to think. Fuck this; I'm going to be straight forward to the point. No reason of playing games with adults. "I want to know what is going on."

Will gazes at the other three men with confusion on his face. If I didn't know him well enough, I would have fallen for it. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play games with me. This is a life or death situation now and as an officer, I will not play with anyone's lives. I know you know what is going on around here; especially with that 'secret' military base that was built in Zeke's area."

"All I want to know is what is going on? So I know when to watch out for and alert you when out and about. Simple as that." Will kept quiet while hanging his head low and shaking it. Epps decided to break the silence between us.

"Brey, it's not as simple as you say."

"So there is something going on and you guys, who I have known since I moved here when I turned eighteen, aren't going to tell. Well, isn't that just fan-fucking-tastic. My family friends don't trust me."

"Aubrey, it's not-," I interrupted Figs from continuing his sentence.

"Don't you dare say 'it's not like that' or I will shove a rusted crowbar so far up your ass, you'll be shitting tetanus for days. What you're doing to me hurts, badly. I hope you know that real well. Since this isn't going very well in my favor-." Right on time, my phone began its thundering ringing of Zeke calling.

Since it was Zeke calling me during his shift on a somewhat busy day, I pick up the phone call immediately and remove myself from the table of four. Will attempts to give chase but a strict finger and a terrifying glare in his direction was all he needed to sit back down.

"Not the time, honey," I slightly snarled. I didn't mean for my anger to be directed at him but from what just happened, there wasn't much that could be done.

"I don't care, me and Dominick have a situation. I don't know what to do and don't want to call it into dispatch. Please, I need your help." My aggression from before washed away faster than a roaring river and I knew he wasn't kidding by his tone of voice.

"Where? Er, text me where you are. I will get there as soon as possible. Stay safe." Not giving the four a chance of stopping me, I rush out of the building as if it was on fire and towards my patrol vehicle.

My phone bussed once more, signaling Zeke had texted me where he is as the forest green truck rumbled to life. I read over the coordinates before inputting them into my truck and nearly peeling out of the parking lot. It would take me time to reach where he is; he's far in the mountains where hikers rarely go.

The lights and sirens on my truck were flipped on the moment my tire hit the road and people knew to get out of my way. Unless you'll be one of the dumb ones and just speed up, thinking we'll turn eventually.

It took about a good thirty minutes to reach where the GPS told me to stop. I was on a secluded road, surrounded by thick forestry, and it gave off a creepy feeling. I would have to walk the rest of the way to get where the two are and assess what they are having trouble with.

Once outside of the truck and exposed to the forest, silence was all around me. Not a hoot from an owl or a chirp from a cricket, there seemed like there was nothing out here for miles.

Reaching the two was another story though, the forest was untamed and filled with bushes, fallen trees, and dangerous creatures if you weren't careful. It was a twenty minute hike to spot something black and white through the bushes.

"Zeke, Dom, you there?" I called out.

"Finally you get here! God, did you take a fuck break before you got here?" Dom spoke up and teased me.

"Don't need to hear that! But Brey, get over here now," Zeke groaned and I did what he told me to do. I get past everything and a gasp tore through my throat at what laid in front of me.

A fucking robot, which looked damage by something else, was lying on the ground and was covered and seemed to be leaking a blue substance. Its primary colors were a black and white with decals of some sort. It was hard to read them from them being nearly all scratched up.

"What in the Sam hell is this thing? And why is it in the middle of a forest?" I questioned out loud.

"As if we would know. It might be dead though. We have been here for over an hour and it hasn't moved or made any sort of noise," Zeke said to the right of me.

"I'm more worried about why it's damage. Because that means there is something out here that could take down the thing and we are out here with no protection." Dom did have a point. A normal pistol would do no damage to something that took down a five ton robot. We are screwed.

We fall into silence as no words could be made up from the situation we are in. I decided to become a bit daring and throwing some of my common sense out the window by climbing on top of the supposedly dead robot.

"What in the hell are you doing?! You're a fucking idiot! Why do I even hang out with you?" Zeke screamed at me yet he stayed in his spot, not knowing what to do in this situation. I, on the other hand, did care, he was more worried about my safety if something did happen.

"Dude, calm down. At least we can get a good look at her from here." Dom and his jokes, not the time. That only fueled Zeke's worry and anger and he made an attempt to climb the robot, the main word attempt. We all stopped at the sound of gears grinding roughly against each other and I froze every muscle in my body in fear.

The two yelled at me to get off as the blood red eyes flickered on and took its first attempt of standing up in however it's been. It must have not seen me and I fell off, hitting the ground hard. Tears welled in my eyes at the first shock of pain from my head flooded my system; my head had hit something hard. I was in too much shock, pain, and fear to even think about moving my limbs.

Gladly my friends came to the rescue; Dom lifted me up in to his arms and carried me not-so-swiftly from the disoriented robot. That was short live as the robot must have seen us running from it and tried to give chase. The trees didn't necessarily stop it but definitely slowed it down enough for us to get away and out of sight.

After about five minutes of hard running, the two slowed down to a stop and Dom dropped me roughly on ground. The two knew not to sit down after running their hearts out and walked around in small circles to help slow down their heart beats.

"I told you so," Zeke sassed between heavy breathes. Since Dom carried me all the way, I wasn't as nearly out of breath at the two male wardens in front of me are.

I lightly touch the back of my head from where my head must have hit a branch or rock on the ground and pulled back for my eyes to see. Blood lightly coated my fingers that touched the wound and a cuss escaped my mouth in reaction. All I hope that stitches weren't needed.

Dom kneeled down behind me and began prodding the wound on the back of my head. "It's not as bad as it could be but we need to be get back now," Dom pointed out the truth. I pulled out my phone, praying for it to have a bar for me to be able to call someone; no service.

"I guess it's time to play Slenderman. This time we aren't collecting eight pages but are finding a place that I can get a bar," I joked about.

We wandering about, listening for any loud noises from the robot while searching for somewhere to give us a bar. This was worse than playing the game Slenderman because this was the real deal but with a twenty foot tall robot as Slender.

Ten minutes past of nothing on our end until a bar appeared on my phone. Instead of calling the police like I should have, I called Will, thinking he might know how to deal with this.

"Brey?" Will picked up the phone thankfully.

"There's no time. I'm sorry it this doesn't make sense: there's a twenty foot robot chasing us. I'm not kidding. Will, I don't want to die." My voice was pathetic in the least yet what I said was true.

"A robot is chasing you?! Where are you Aubr-?" The sound something big making its way through the tree's caught the three of us ears and we all froze in fear. Dread filled my stomach to the brim at the thought of it coming to get us.

"Hurry!" Was all I said before hanging up on him and dashing away from the loud footsteps. It must have heard us and gave chase; the hunt is on and there was a slim chance of us surviving.

It was somehow gaining on us until a metal hand snatched me out of mid-jump over a fallen tree. An ear piercing scream tore through my throat and I struggled with all my might to get of the tight, near rib crushing grip.

Something over took me and I threw the phone at the two froze wardens below us. "Run! Spilt! It can't go after the both of you at the same time. Call Will and get him here! Go! Run! Get!" I yelled with all my might. I could see the debate on Zeke's face at the thought of leaving me behind and Dom took care of that by pushing him in one direction.

Dom grabbed the phone before taking off in one direction while Zeke hesitantly ran in the other direction. This gave the robot a hard time if he wanted to chase Zeke and Dom. It didn't though; it started to randomly walk in another direction. I was confused on why it's not following them, unless it has another plan of capturing them.

Gladly it realized the tightness of the grip holding my body was bruising and probably cracking my ribs and loosened its grip. I was now able to breathe a bit easier; though running away from the monster and it trying to squeeze my guts was taking a toll on me. My throat burned from the lack of water and the running I just did.

"Should have left me alone," he, its robotic voice sounded like a male, stated as if I knew him and what he is talking.

"W-what? I don't-I don't even know you," I stuttered from the terror running through my body. At any given or wanted moment, he could drop kick me to Pluto or he could squish me like a bug in his hand.

"Oh, but you do. The runaway police cruiser that always slipped between your digits or when your human radio would randomly stop working. That was all me." How can he be the copper when it was a car and him a robot?

"But-but how? You're a robot-." He interrupted me before I could finish my sentence.

"I am not a robot. I'm a sentient being from the planet Cybertron!" he growled lowly and nearly scared me out of my skin from his comment.

"O-ok-okay! I'm sorry." I coward away from him, protecting my face with my hands as if that would save from my impending doom. If you were in my shoes, you would be acting the same way. "You're a Cybertronian, how could you be a car if you formed as a humanoid?"

"The little you know, the best it's for your life." He didn't say anything else after that and I was too afraid to get to talk about more of him. Wait, this means he's an alien. Fuck my life!

He continued moving, sometimes stumbling over his own feet, through the forest and going further in the forest. He seemed like he had an idea of where he was heading yet was having trouble getting past the thickness of the trees.

After awhile of being carried like a doll, I decided to speak up, in attempts to get to know my alien capturer. "So, um… what's your name? Mi-mine's Aubrey but most call me Brey." The words sounded so forced through my throat and it did irritate my throat more.

"My designation is Barricade." A like weird that his name was after something of humankind.

Wait a minute. "As in Officer Cade?" I questioned with an uneasy feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Talking with him was helping my fear of him slowly melt away.

"You're correct. Those areas you were forced to go to were from small battles between the Autobots and Decepticons. One of them, I was found by the Autoscums and somehow I was able to escape." Autobots? Decepticons? What in the hell was he talking about? My head began to hurt it trying to piece everything together from past and present situations.

"Okay-okay, stop. I'm going to have a migraine in the end." I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand to get rid of the pressure inside of it. "But the only thing I really want to know is: what do I got with all of this? Why did you go after the three of us and only capture me?"

"The Decepticons learned you're great friends with the Autobots main pet. So this is how I know of you. The other two fleshbags, I have no idea who they are. And since you were there when I first gotten out of force stasis, I decided to take you for company. It gets lonely out here, especially when both factions are after you. I can use you for leverage on both sides if they do find me," he explained. So the only reason he has me is for bait.

The only thing I could say was "oh". After eight years of protecting the public, getting back on my feet after everything that had happened to me, this is how my lights go out: being captured by an alien robot from the planet Cybertron and used as leverage.

I kept to myself as he continued making his way through the forest until we arrived at an abandon mine shaft with a wooden barn as the entrance in the middle of nowhere. The other way I could go out is by being crushed by rocks; not the heroic way I would want to go out.

Barricade entered the wooden barn and set me down on creaking wood boards below us. "If you dare try to escape, I'll break both of your legs so you can't walk." He made a good argument about not escaping and I sat down on my ass to make sure it didn't provoke the idea of me escaping.

That didn't stop me from thinking about a way to escape from here. I didn't have my phone on me, leaving me without a device to contact anyone with. My only hope was Dom or Zeke being able to contact Will and get help. If they didn't, I'll be joining the wheel in the sky.

My eyes and throat felt like they were on fire. My eyes from the stress I went through under two hours ago and still going through. My throat from the lack of water and the tiny bit of screaming I did awhile ago. What has my life become in less than two hours ago?

My adrenaline was used up long ago and was starting to wear me down. Tiredness was starting to catch up and drag down the path of darkness. I didn't know whether or not to accept sleep as it would leave me helpless to the monster and no time to think up a plan.

Fighting the tiredness was futile and I let sleep finally take me away into dream land.

The snapping of a twig (sounded more like a tree being stepped on) woke me from my peaceful nap and I jumped up in surprise. Barricade must have hear the noise too as he was already up and looked to be scared nearly shitless. I felt a like bad for the bot but quickly shook off that feeling, he did capture me after all.

A male voice spoke yet I couldn't understand any of it from him being too far away. The voice sounded like Will's and I prayed for it to be, get me away from the fucking giant robot that kidnapped me.

Out of nowhere, Barricade not-so-gently scooped me off the ground and held me tightly in his grasp. "Time to use my barging chip," he said out loud, mostly to himself. I knew it was pointless to fight against his grip around my body and glared up at the police style robot. If he was a real cop, he wouldn't be doing something like this.

Barricade steps out from the barn that connects to the abandon mine shaft and held me out in front of me. A group of seven bots stood in front of a large group of humans, one I recognized as Will. My prayer was answered and that had to be the happiest moment in my life.

What I didn't like about this whole situation (besides being used as a pawn and being held like a doll) was the group of seven other robots in front of us. They could be with Barricade and have captured these army men. Wait! Army men! This is what the military was hiding from us: the use of robots.

"Well, well, well, look what we got: the Autobots," Barricade sneered with hatred seeping in his voice. He must really hate the Autobots.

"Barricade, release the human. She has nothing to do with this," the largest of the bots ordered with a baritone voice, yet at the same time his voice was a tiny bit familiar. Regal and authority was literally rolling off of him in waves and I was surprise Barricade didn't follow through with his order.

"Oh, but Prime, she does have a lot to do with this. You can't harm me when I have this fleshbag in my servos. And if you dare send one of your soldiers after me, I will squish her like the meatsack she is," Barricade growled lowly and tightened his grip around me to show he wasn't kidding around. It was hard to breath with your ribs nearly getting snapped and I banged my fist against his metal hand to tell him to stop.

"Stop! What do you want for her safely returned to us?" Will cried and foolishly letting his emotions get a hold of him. Even though I couldn't see Barricades face, you could feel the triumph smile grow on his lips.

"Well, one thing is for sure: energon. And no more attacking me or no sending any of your goons to watch over me," Barricade offered. Will scowled at him and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine but you must know it will take awhile for us to the energon back here," Will accepted.

"Oh, I know and I can wait here until you give me the energon." Great, now we have to wait for probably hours until Will can give him whatever energon is. My legs will be asleep by then and my bladder is kind of in need of a release.

Time ticked away, slowly in my eyes and sooner than later, a few of the bots that left, appeared with blue glowing cubes. That must be energon.

"Okay, Barricade, we got your energon, now put down the girl gently and safely," Will calmly ordered my kidnapper.

"No, not until the energon cubes are in my servos. I'm in control of what happens to the fleshbag." Will signaled for the three bots carrying the energon cubes to move forward. The trade between the two wasn't as slick as I wanted because the moment the bots got close enough with the cubes, Barricade threw me up in the air. This forced two of the three bots to let go of the cubes and reach out to catch.

During this entire thing, not a sound came from my mouth; I was too scared to scream or even whimper in fright of being thrown up in the air. A red bot gladly caught me after my descent in the air and held me close to his warm, metal chest. It acted like it was protecting from the monster robot in front of us.

Barricade quickly grabbed all the energon from the ground and bot before rushing off into the dense forest around us. He disappeared nearly the moment he got past the first row of trees and was gone from sight.

"Put me down, now!" I ordered to the red robot holding me with my voice shaky. I could care less about heights; it all about the sudden drop at the end. It gave me a fake hurt expression and placed his other hand over his chest in mock hurt.

"That's not nice. I just saved your aft and you're-," I interrupted him, the voice sounded like a male and sounded a bit familiar.

"Put me down! Please, put me down," I cried because I wanted to be as far as possible from every robotic being here. He hesitantly followed through with my order. The moment my half-asleep feet touched the ground, I dash towards Will and wrapped my arms around him. I didn't care if my actions were a bit weird, that was the last thing on my mind. I was away from the police style bot safely on the ground.

Will also wrapped his arms around me and nearly squeezed my guts out of me. That didn't go well for me from the most definitely bruised ribs and maybe crack ribs. I pushed him back, squeezed my eyes shut from the pain my ribs are emitting, and wrapped my arms gently around my upper chest. "Are you okay, Brey?" Will beings fret about my well-being.

What do you think? I was kidnapped by a fucking over grown tin-can and nearly crushed by said being.


	11. Chapter 11: The Aftermath and Guardians

**Author's note: yeah, you don't see many of these from me but I felt the need to do one. First off, I hope everyone is staying safe during this time. Anyone who reads this story and is an essential worker, thank you so much for your service and stay safe out there! Those who are at home and owning the curve, we appreciate what you are doing! Lastly, enjoy the chapter.**

You know that feeling when you are about to puke but nothing is coming from your mouth; yeah, that's what happening to me. It didn't help with my ribs feeling like they are on fire. Will was holding my head in his hands and checking over anything on my face before noticing me holding my ribs. "Do your ribs hurt?" he questioned while gently prying my arms from my chest.

The only thing I could do was nod, in fear of my spilling was in my stomach. He lifts up my shirt in front of everyone here, exposing my sports bra to the other soldiers. I didn't care about them seeing my upper woman body parts but I did care about them seeing the many scars ranging from big to small along my stomach and back.

A deep blush grew over my face and attempted to stop him from continuing him embarrassing me any further. He didn't let me though and his eyes widen from shock pooling inside of them and a small gasp could be heard from him. He lets go my shirt and turns to one of the seven large bots in front of him. "Ratchet, I need you to take care of her injuries for me please," he orders, leaving no room for argument.

No way in hell is one of those things getting to me again; I'd rather not acquire anymore injuries. I shake my head and backed away from the approaching bot with my hand pointing a finger at him. I ignored the pain in my ribs from my muscles pulling. Aggressive fear was painted over my face as I tried to act like the big, bad wolf. "No! You stay away from me. I don't want another one of those things near me." You could tell fear was in my voice.

Will quickly caught up to my retreating form and grabbed the hand pointing at the bot named Ratchet. "Aubrey, they aren't going to hurt you. They are the good guys. Barricade is part of the Decepticons, those are the bad guys," he explained as if that was going to settle the dust and calm my new found fear of them.

"I don't care about them being good or bad, I'm fine in the first place. No need for any doctors or anything on the lines of that," I placed my welling being at the bottom of the importance list. "Where are Dom and Zeke? Are they okay? Are they hurt? I'm going to kic-," this time Ratchet interrupted me.

"Don't worry, they are safe and with some of the other soldiers. They aren't injured but only a bit shaken up. You, on the other servo, are in worse condition. I don't care if you don't like us but your injuries are best to be taken care of now then later," Ratchet pointed out before advancing to me and scooping me off the ground.

This didn't help me on their image about them and caused me to freak out even more. "Will you stop it!? Your injuries need to be cared for and there aren't any other doctors around for miles. Whether you like it or not, you're going to be worked on by me." As if he scares me.

"Just fucking set me down or the gods help me, I will fucking tear you bolt from bolt," I threatened with my voice low and dangerous. I was stressed out to the max and needed to be away from what was stressing me out or it won't end pretty for anyone in the general area.

"Ratchet, please set her down. We'll work this out later," Will plead for the sake of the bots and me.

Gladly Ratchet gently sets me back down on the ground with a few words of complaint. But the moment my feet hit the ground, I rushed away from him and others to be about a good twenty feet from all of them.

My mind began to slow down as the danger was now away from us. I had to kneel down and try my best for the tears threatening to fall, stop at the brim of my eyes. When overstressed like this, for some reason, I want to cry myself to sleep. That's what used to happen when I was younger.

Nothing helped though and the first tear fell, others followed suit. I kept my mouth shut, keeping any noise wanting to escape quiet. That was what I was doing until a small strangled cry sounded from the back of my throat.

Will heard the noise and immediately came over to where I am and kneeled down next to my crying form. "Hey," he softly spoke," everything is going to be fine. Let's get you back to where Zeke and Dominick are." I perked up at the mention of my great friend's names and slightly nodded my head. He helped me off the ground and led me away from the ground and into the forest. He used his body to keep me from everyone's eyes.

It was a long walk back and a painful one for me. My ribs didn't like all the movement of walking but I didn't want to be carried around like a doll in one of the bots' hands. A shiver went down my spine at the thought of being held by another robotic being, I didn't want to be squeezed to near death again in my entire life.

Finally, we reached where the dirt road is and where a group of twenty or so soldiers stood around with high powered weapons in their grasp. Far down the road on the right of us, my truck was parked in the same spot before we got caught up in this.

"Aubrey!" my name was called from the group of soldiers and two familiar people rushed toward me, full speed. Dom was the first to get his arms around me, crushing me in his strong embrace and causing my ribs to scream in pain. I forcefully push the both of them away while more tears threaten to fall and stood off to the side, holding my throbbing ribs.

Both of them were at my sides in an instant, acting like my mother hens and asking questions like "are you okay?" "are you alright?" "what happened?". Will stepped in and gently pushed them away from me to given me room for a breather.

"No, the Con that we were chasing nearly crushed her in his grip," Will explained what happened to me. To stay the least, my warden friends weren't happy at all and started to literally drag me over to the nearest forest green truck. Mine was the closest out of the three of them.

I twist both of my arms out of their grasp and continued our path towards my truck. There were medical supplies inside for a lot of things, including bruised and cracked ribs. The two wardens stopped trying to 'help' me, snapping out of their mother hen faze and noticing that I didn't need any help from them.

No one stopped me and let me make my way over to my truck. I hop in the driver seat without starting it up and rest my arms on the steering wheel and rest my head on top of my arms. Even though I got those five or so hours of sleep during my capture, my body was dead tired wanted to crash in the more comfortable passenger.

While contemplating whether or not to fall asleep right here, my ears caught the sound of some of the soldiers talking where we had immerge from dense forest. I place my chin on my arms and gaze tiredly out of the front window, watching everyone converse with each other. Will was rounding everyone up, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

My eyes caught the sight of the red bot that caught me from falling to the ground was staring at me. For no apparent reason, I gave him a short wave before returning my hand underneath my chin. He seemed to perk up slightly at my gesture and returned the wave with a bit more excitement. That was cut short by a yellow bot as it smacked him in the arm.

After a while of sitting in my truck with my fellow wardens who knew not to speak to me when I'm like this, Will approached me. "Brey, we are heading back to the base. You're too stressed out and tired to drive safely. So go with Epps and I'll drive your truck back to your house."

"You can't. Only a warden from our department can drive my truck and I really don't want to get in trouble with Tipps. She can be scary when she is mad. And to be honest, I'd rather not want to be any closer with any of the bots. I can drive to my house," I argued with my words sounding a bit slurred. He only shook his head before looking at Dom in the passenger seat. I already knew what was going to happen.

Gripping onto the steering wheel like it was my lifeline, I stuck out my tongue childishly at Dom who was exiting the truck and moving around to the other side. "NO! I'm fine, leave me alone," I whined like a two year old as Dom attempted to pull me out of the seat. My ribs were burning from the amount of movement and pressure they are going through and it was too much for me to handle.

"Okay! Stop! Let go of me and I'll get out of the truck peacefully," I offered, my voice sounding like I was in pain and on the verge of tears once more. Dom gladly let go of me, giving me an apologetic expression. I gently slide of the truck, hissing under my breath from the spring of pain in my ribs, and hobbled over to the front of the truck, using the front end of the truck to stable myself.

A few curse words left my mouth and multiple mock, incoherent words with them as I lean against the push bars. The moment my eyes slowly shut, the sound of quick shifting gears caught my attention and my eyes snapped open to see the bots turning into cars.

All the newly transformed cars in front of me were way too familiar in design and type, specially the two Lamborghinis. "No way," I gasped in shock with my eyes nearly bugging out. It finally hit me harder than a freight train: the same cars showing up at Will's are the same car-robots in front of me. Let's just say, that didn't help my headache in anyway.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," I groaned, not wanting to deal with figuring out the truth at the moment.

The familiar red Lamborghini backed up until it was to the right of me. The driver side door opened up and out stepped Shawn, even though it should be impossible for him to be in there. "Hey, Brey. Um, I overheard you can't drive your truck and I wanted to-," he was interrupted by Will.

"Sideswipe, not at the moment. She has been through a lot and needs time to think over everything," Will turned Shawn (though Will called him Sideswipe) down for me. I actually kind of wanted to ride with Shawn yet felt a bit weird about riding inside of one of the bots.

Shawn-Sideswipe, I don't even know anymore, shoulders slouched and a small hint of hurt flashed inside of his eyes. He nodded his head solemnly before turning around and slipping back into the sleek Lamborghini. He drives up next to the yellow Lamborghini and stays there, without leaving his car.

"Come on, Brey. Dom will drive the truck to your house for you. You go find Epps and he'll watch over you until we get back to the base," Will shooed me away from the two of them.

"Could you please take of the dogs for me?" I questioned tiredly. He gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded his head. Zeke and I quietly stroll over to the group of soldiers loading up into armored trucks.

Neither of us said a word to each other as there wasn't much to say. We quickly found Epps and he ushered us into one of the armored trucks, giving us a sad look. We sat next to each other and I rested my head against his shoulder. My ribs groaned in protested at the strange angle yet I didn't give any fucks to the world.

Soldiers gave us either a sad, knowing look of being dragged into this, a look of being slightly weirded out, or not even giving us a glance.

Without realizing it, my eyes closed by themselves and I gave in to being tired.

Something gently poked my shoulder. "Wake up, Brey." The male voice was a softer, like talking to a five year old. When I didn't stir or make a noise, my body was shaken a little bit. "Wake up." The voice was now a bit harsher in tone. Again, I made no move or sound and laid there still as a board. "God fucking damnit, I don't have time for this."

This time, someone decided the way to wake me from my peaceful nap was by ticking my sore ribs. That sure woke me up with a startle and had accidently punched whoever woke me. My fist collided what felt like a shoulder or something close to that and it pulsed lightly with pain. It didn't help with my ribs literally sounding off Hells bells off in my head.

I stand up with my legs not very steady underneath me and glance at Epps standing in front of me, rubbing his shoulder. "Damn, you hit hard," he commented. "Sorry your nap was short but we're here at the base." Nodding my head with looking like I was drunk, I follow the African American out of the truck and into bright, sunny land of the living.

Zeke was waiting a few feet from the back end of the truck. By the way he held his body and the look on his face, he was ready to collapse from exhaustion. I was feeling the same way and wanted to lay down on the dirt underneath my feet and sleep for thousands of years.

Epps didn't say a word to use as he led us over to where the car-robots are driving. It was a massive hangar and it surprised me it didn't collapse under its own weight. The door way was about thirty to thirty five feet tall and around fifty feet wide.

All the expensive vehicles drove to the back of the hangar and sat there, looking pretty.

The inside of the hangar looked even bigger on the inside. It had a large cat-walk with computers sat on tables. Other techie soldiers sat at said tables, focusing on whatever was on the screen, well except one that was play Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did or at least I did.

"We'll have to wait for Will to get back for your guys' debriefing so you can hang here for a while," Epps offered and showed us to an empty table. Great, debriefing is so much fun (note the sarcasm). I took the liberty of sitting down first and burying my head into my arms.

Even though my head was facing down at the grey table, I could hear Epps footsteps going away from us. Zeke sat down on one of the other table's chairs and released a sighed that was filled with tiredness. I pick my head back up and gaze at the line of shiny vehicles at the back of the hangar. My eyes immediately caught sight of the red Lambo, sitting on its wheels like a doll on display. Only difference was I knew it wasn't any normal supercar but a robot.

WAIT! I rode inside of that thing! My cheeks being to burn, probably turning the same color of the car, and I sat up in surprise, pulling at my bruised ribs. A shocked gasp escaped my mouth at the pain that sprung up with the movement. All I wanted at the moment was a comfy to lie on and fall asleep on.

A warm hand landed on my shoulder and gently squeezed to gain my attention. "You alright, Brey?" Zeke inquired with worry laced in his word. I nod my head to reassure him and myself, I really didn't know if I was alright after everything that has happened.

My eyes found their way back over to the red Lambo after awhile of staring at the boring gray table. What does Shawn and the others have to do with the bots? They always seem, no they always are around when the bots, in their car form, are there.

Finally, after a good forty-five minutes of sitting and gazing at the beautiful vehicles, the familiar black GMC pulled into the hangar. Will and Dom got out of the truck and it started to drive towards the line of vehicles too. There couldn't be anyone in the driver seat because Will got out from that side. Realization hit me once more over the head: the truck is also one of them.

I carefully stand up once the two made it up the couple flights of stairs, doing my all-time-best not to disturb my aching ribs, and tiredly smiled at them. "I'll make the debriefing quick as possible and let you get on the road of sleep. Well, I'll have to let Ratchet look over you or he's going to throw a wrench in my direction." I didn't like the thought of having one of them near me and I have every right to think that.

The debriefing was quick and boring all in all and all three of us had to sign papers about keeping our traps shut. No telling anyone about their presences or the location of the base, the usual stuff.

Now was the fun part of Will trying to give me a guardian. Dom and Zeke already got theirs without complaining, most likely not caring only if it got them closer to a bed. I, on the other hand, was stubborn about defending myself quite fine against the Decepticons but Will wouldn't have it.

"Please, Brey. You need a guardian for your own sake. Another attack could happen and when you're not at your house, you need someone by your side to protect you from danger. Just accept the fact that you need a guardian. Either you pick or I pick for you," Will urged with a strict tone to his voice.

"Will, I don't need someone to babysit me, I'm fine the way I am." Sometimes I was too stubborn for my own good.

"Fine, I'll pick for you." Fuck, that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I realized there wasn't anything to get past his though of someone babysitting me and gave in.

"Wait. Fine, I give. Who do we got?" I gave in with a small sigh leaving my lips. He hands me a printed out a long list of names of the bot's names. Crosshairs and Jazz were already picked by my friends, meaning they weren't up on the table for grabs. Crosshairs was picked by Dom while Jazz was picked by Zeke.

The only name on the paper that I recognized was Sideswipe from when Will said his name early this day. I wanted someone that I already knew and decided to pick him. "I choose Sideswipe," I announced. Will's expression changed from blank to surprise and little bit of horror.

He mutters under his breath something on the lines of: "fuck, forgot those two were on the list." Will shakes his head before snatching the paper out of my hands. "You should pick someone else like one of the triplets. Like Arcee, she'll like you." Now I knew Sideswipe was the one I wanted definitely. If Will doesn't want me to have him then by all means, let him be my guardian.

"No, I choose Sideswipe. He will be my guardian from now on," I declared while standing up and straightening my posture. That wasn't the smartest idea in the world but I wanted to show Will he couldn't persuade me.

Will looked like he wanted to argue with me but when he saw the determination in my eyes, he caved. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when you get pranked. Also, it a two-bot package. His twin, Sunstreaker will tag along with Sideswipe. Be careful around Sunstreaker, he...uh, doesn't really like humans on any level. And don't get anywhere near his paint job, don't get close to him in general." So one of the bots here on the good guy side hates being near humans, sounds just like me.

With that said and done, Will lead the three us to somewhere called the Med. Bay. This will probably where Ratchet is. I was in no mood in having to deal with a twenty-five foot tall medical robot but no one really cares about what I want.

Let's just say it wasn't fun having Richard (I have no idea where he came from, he seemed to come out of nowhere) wrap gauze securely around my chest but gladly under my breasts. It was a bit painful having to breath with the wrapping around my chest but it will help with the healing process.

Will takes us to the barracks and lets the three of us take a room with two bunk beds. I didn't care where I was going to sleep and took the nearest one to me. My body nearly collapses on the cot and a sign of relief escapes my mouth. Sleep came quickly for me and I was beyond happy for its blanket to wrap around me.

"-oing to wake her if you keep talking so loudly," a slightly muffled voice woke me from my peaceful sleep of fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows. I moan from my curled form underneath a thick blanket and pulled said blanket more over my head.

"And you said I would wake her," another voice teased to the other. A few seconds later a gently hand touched my upper arm and shook me to wake me up further.

"Noooo, I don't want to get up" I whined until the hand poked my sore ribs, causing me to immediately become fully awake. "Low blow dude, low blow. Now you can fuck off for the rest of my life." Dom had a small smirk placed on his face while Zeke had a worried expression on his face.

"Awww, did the bunny not like being touched there?" Dom teased me this time. My leg swung out and hit him on the side of his thigh, it did absolutely nothing to hurt him but for me, it caused me to pull at my ribs.

"How about you shut the fuck up and leave me the fuck alone? Why did you wake me this early in the morning?" I question while rubbing my eyes to get out the last of the tiredness out of my system.

"Darlin', it's nearly noon and here you are, laying in bed, doing nothing," Dom pointed out the obvious and in return, he got the bird. I extend my arms out to the two, hoping they would get the message help me up, off the bed.

"Help," I said and made a grabby movement with my hands. Zeke grabbed my left arm while Dom grabbed my right and easily hoisted my sore body off the not-so-comfortable bed. "Thanks." I walk over to the nearest mirror and gazed at the horrible sight of me. My hair was an absolute mess upon my head, my arms had a few bruises, and my left cheek adorn a small bruise.

"I look like if a fucking punching bag could bruise," I joked from the sight in the mirror. With the gauze around my chest, I couldn't see how bruised they were and didn't really want to see them in the first place.

Both of them chuckle from my funny remark. "It's not that bad," Dom lied through his teeth. I sent a glare in his direction before realizing their change of clothes. They were dressed in the normal army style camouflaged clothes while I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday and boy, do I stink.

The rumble of my stomach caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Food, food is good and needed," I commented.

"Then let's go find where they keep the food," Dom declares before exiting our temporary room, leaving us standing there like buffoons. I was the first to react by also leaving the room and caught up to Dom. Only a couple seconds later, Zeke joined us on our journey to find where the food is.

We didn't find where the cafeteria is and found ourselves in the massive hangar from before. Some of the car-robots were transformed into their robotic form, standing around and talking with each other. What caught my eye was the red bot that turns into the red Lambo was in the group of bots. He was standing next to a bot that was very similar in size and bulk but was a color of bright yellow and small fins on the side of his head.

Dom spots our lord and savior who was talking with a red and blue huge bot. My great friend leads us up the cat-walk and over to where Will was standing. Will see's us and excuses himself to come over to where we are. "Gosh, Brey. You look like someone backhanded you into a wall," Will pointed out. I sent a glare in his direction and a lovely middle finger to top it all off.

"As if I didn't know that. I just want some food before crashing back on my bed. I'm going home today, right?" I questioned with hope filling my voice. My dogs are in need of my love and I needed to sleep for another week.

"You're just in time for lunch then, come on. Then after that, I can show you where you can get a shower because you sure need it," Will offered before walking down the steps of the cat-walk and out of the hangar. We quickly followed him towards wherever he is taking us, all I wanted was food and hot, burning shower.

The food was definitely not the greatest by any means; it was the super healthy shit and what I heard from Will, Ratchet doesn't like any sort of sugar products on base. They, of course, have to sneak sugary foods and drinks onto the base and hide them from the Medic. I was happy for food to be in my stomach as yesterday was my day to have dinner.

I was shown to where the community showers where the females are able to shower by themselves. There was no one in here gladly, letting me shower in peace and take up all the hot water. It also felt amazing on ribs, that's not sarcasm, and I wanted to stay in here all day; but Will said after I got ready, he would take all of us home with our new guardians to protect us from evil.

After the extremely hot shower, I was introduced to the real form of Ian, his name is Ironhide. The only problem we were having now was Will wanted me to sit inside of Ironhides car form. "I'm sorry if I seem… uneasy about riding with you. Hopefully you can see my side on why I feel that way." I was trying my best to be polite with Ia-Ironhide.

"I understand but you need to get over your fear and take the leap as you humans say." He was right about that, just get into the back of truck and you get on home to see your dogs and take an entire week off from work. And I did it, now I was sitting in back of black GMC Topkick with my ribs slightly protesting from getting in the back.

"See it wasn't that hard, was it?" Ironhide teased. I mumbled a 'fuck you' underneath my breath and glared at the console. Zeke slides in next to me as Dom got the front seat with Will in the driver seat even though he didn't need to drive.

The ride to everyone's houses was filled all of us asking questions (appropriate questions) about who and what they are. Ironhide answered most of them as if was about their kind. The three of us learned about them being from the planet called Cybertron (classifying them as aliens) and called Cybertronians, their car forms are call alternate mode (alt. mode), and lots of other stuff.

"Thanks Will, I'll see you later," I said my goodbye's before climbing up the porch steps and unlocking my front door. It was good to back in my own home for once in a while. The dogs jumped happily in their kennels, waiting to be let out which I did.

They gave me lots of loves to me before I let them out for a potty break. I dealt with the dogs pretty quickly before heading back upstairs as the sun was ready to fall below the horizon. Sleep became a reality and I was able to finally fall back to sleep with the dogs in their normal spot.


	12. Chapter 12: Good Days Turned Sour

**I'm a little saddened that no one got my reference last chapter but there is always more to come for! Enjoy the latest chapter and be safe y'all!**

My bruised ribs were healing quite nicely after taking a week off from work (Will was surprised but understood my reasoning) and sitting around the house, watching T.V. But during the entire time of having nothing to do, I got extremely bored to the point I gave Powerstroke a bath and a deep interior cleaning.

Sha-Sideswipe, still need to get used to calling him that, was jealous and wanted me to give him the same treatment. That didn't happen; well the only thing close to getting a wash was a spray from the cold hose water. Sideswipe didn't like that and sent out his holoform for pay back.

Cold water rained down on me from the other side of the truck. "You motherfucker! That's it! I was thinking about washing your alt. mode but now, it's a big no," I declared to the brunet on the other side of my truck.

The sound of the hose clinking against gravel below our feet caught my attention and for a second I was confused on why he dropped it. That was until said holoform appeared next to me, on his knees with his hands gripping each other and a look of sadness on his handsome face. "Please, no! I'll stop, just please give me a wash," he begged and even had his bottom lip sticking out.

It took all of my self-control not to fall for the somehow handsome man turned adorable. I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest, careful about pulling any of the muscles still not fully healed. "Sorry, Sideswipe. I told you no and I'm not going to change my answer," I replied coolly as if he didn't make me want to fall for his adorableness.

His hands dropped into his lap and he hung his head lowly. A sniff could be heard in his direction and for a moment, I almost broke my composure at the sound he made. "I said no. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to dry off the water you sprayed on Powerstroke." With that said and done, I grabbed one of the dry towels from inside the open garage door and begun drying off my truck.

Something snapped inside of me and fear started to fill my mind, making my hands shake. My conscience told me sternly: don't become friends with them, don't trust them. You don't know what they could be hiding underneath that kind mien.

I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts building up inside and snap my head in the direction of Sc-Sunstreaker's voice. "What's underneath the tarp?" he called out from the entrance of the garage. I knew what he was talking about: my brothers 1968 Plymouth Fury III.

"I'll show you," I responded and let the towel hang on the side mirrors. I entered the garage and opened the one-car garage door then tore off the grey tarp off with dust following it.

The beautiful garbage green Plymouth sat in all of her glory, shining from the limited sun coming from the open garage doors. The chrome strip around the body was so cleaned you could see if you had something stuck in your teeth. The forest green seats didn't even have a crack in them from being hidden from the sun during her years under my care.

"Slag, you take real good care of the paint," Sideswipe pointed out of the obvious.

"Well, Cool Desert Night's is coming up in a week or so and she needs to look as good as she can. Just need to clean something's underneath her hood before she is ready to go out in public," I explained before popping the hood and showing them her nearly cleaned engine.

"What's Cool Desert Night's?" Sideswipe questioned while walking around, getting a look at all of her good sides.

"It's were you bring in a car of any make or model, preferably older or classic cars, and drive around them to show them off. You guys should go, it would cool to see Lambos driving around. Plus you get a lot of attention from people," I offered before closing the hood.

"Oh! That sounds fun! What do you think, Sunny? Should we go?" Sideswipe teased his twin. Sunstreaker growled underneath his breath and sent his brother a glare that sent a shiver down my spine. It wasn't even directed at me.

That's what happened on my last day of taking a week off and at the moment I was sitting on the side of the road, watching out for anyone doing any wrongs. Both of the Lamborghinis sat behind me, being the guardians that they were assigned to be. I didn't like having them follow me around while I did my job because cherry red and sunshine yellow totally blend in.

The sound of a dirt bike with a modified exhaust caught my attention and I stared it down, looking for everything needed for it to be street legal. The first thing I spotted was there were no license on the back or front, and other features that racked up his ticket.

I called into dispatch about the dirt bike and the description before flipping on my lights and sirens and nearly peeling out of my spot. I knew dirt flew up from my tires kicking up rocks by the sound of Sideswipe revving his engine in some sort of surprise. Hopefully he doesn't make me wash that off or we are going to have problems.

Said dirt bike wasn't pulling over and decided to turn down a dirt, pot-hole filled road. My ribs disagreed with me following the bike down the road and keeping up easily compared to the Lambos having to stop at the entrance. Sideswipe honked at me to get my attention but I full-out ignored him and kept up the chase.

The road continued to get worse and worse the entire time until I knew my truck couldn't take any more beating. I stopped when something else caught my attention: a gray-blue armored SUV. It sat off in the bushes, hidden from anyone driving by without giving it a look.

Since the chase was called off, I decided to check if the SUV was stolen or if any poachers were out hunting. This land is owned by someone who didn't want any hunters hunting on his land and only allowed dirt bikers to ride the trails through his land.

By the vegetation around it, it seemed to have been here only a few hours and there weren't any new stolen car reports in last two days in my area so it wasn't that. There is dirt caked on the side of it, as if someone went through the mud and didn't clean it off. What I didn't like at all was the feeling of being watched like when I was around the cars in disguise.

Not taking any risks if it was one of the bad guys, I unclip my gun from belt and take the safety off while slowly moving forward towards the silent SUV. It didn't move a centimeter the entire time my eyes were trained on its frame.

Well that was until parts and pieces started to split quickly and take form of a robot. Fright and dread boiled at the bottom my stomach at the sight of how big he transformed. I did what any rational person would do in this situation and fired my gun as many times as possible.

He, the sound of his voice gave it away, cried out in pain from the bullets hitting him. I took the chance of him being distracted and ran into the forest, totally forgetting about my truck that could get me even further away from him. It did matter though, the keys were dropped somewhere in my attempt of injuring him.

"Sideswipe! Sunstreaker! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while trying my best conserve my oxygen. It was a futile attempt to get their attention this far into the forest with trees blocking the sound of my voice and I knew that at the bottom my heart.

That didn't stop me from pumping my legs as he gave chase after me, having trouble getting through the thick trees. My energy quickly getting used up from having to move around the large trees and thick vegetation in my way.

The evil bot was causing trees to be split into pieces and making them fly my way. A few pieces hit my body; some pierce my skin and embed themselves under my protective layer. He finally caught up to me and decided to smack like a fly, forcing me into the air and back down to Earth in matter of seconds.

My ribs felt like they were on fire by the time my body hit the ground and my back hit a tree quite hard. I groaned in pain as my head throbbed and my back screamed in agony. I tried to get up from my spot against a tree but my body wouldn't let me.

When all hope was lost to the stars, a familiar red and yellow paint caught my eyes. If I had enough oxygen, I would have cried out in joy at seeing them.

Sideswipe quickly scopes me off the ground once he got close enough and gave his brother a nod before whisking me away. He drops me off at a safe distance from Sunstreaker and the Con duking it out in the middle of a forest before heading into the battle himself.

During the entire thing, I was pray for my patrol truck to be fine in the end of this or Tipps will not be happy with me. She'll most likely strangle me and then snap my neck for causing her to do more paper work.

I got on my feet after a few minutes of trying and heavily laid against a nearby tree for support. Tears were rushing down my face from my ribs practically screaming at me and there wasn't much I could do to help them. My truck was unreachable at the moment because of the three iron giants battling right next to it and it has all the needed supplies to help with my bruised ribs and cuts covering my body.

Since there wasn't anything for me to do, I watched the experts battle the brute with such grace and strength, it was astonishing. They dodged his punches and hammer while being able to damage him. They did get their own injuries but seemed quite small compared to the big bot.

Finally, the battle came to stop when the bad bot transformed and drove away quickly from the scene. I was relieved my truck was undamaged during the entire thing but gasped when a red hand scooped me off the ground carefully.

"You need to stop getting yourself into trouble. This is the second time I had to save your aft," Sideswipe teased while carrying me over to my truck and gently setting me down next to it.

An expression that read 'really' passed over my face. "Oh, yes sir. I so wanted to find the big, bad bot and have him chase me through the forest. Also wanting him to backhand me like a bug into tree. I always wanted to be fucking bird." Those sentences were dripping in sarcasm and you must be an idiot if you couldn't figure that out.

A fake hurt expression appeared on Sideswipes face. "I didn't like how much sarcasm was in your voice. But you have to give us a wash for saving you."

Are you shitting me?! "Like the hell I would! I'm probably going to be out for another week because of that dumbass. I still have the rest of this shift to deal with before I go and give the both of you a wash." I was getting a little ticked off if you didn't hear it in my voice or body language.

Though the two of them looked like someone dragged them through the mud and stuck some trees between their metal plates. I did feel the tiniest bit bad for them having to ruin their perfect paint jobs for saving my ass from the blue giant.

"But after your shift, you're free. Please, you owe us this," he continued to beg for the both of them.

I sighed, too tired to deal with his bullshit of being too annoying. Should have picked someone else. "Fine, but after my shift is done or my sergeant will be pissed off at me for skipping work. I don't need her to be even angrier with me after what happened a week ago." He did a little happy dance for me giving in.

That made me wonder something. "Why are you so happy about me giving you a bath?"

"You seem to know how to work wonders on our frames." That didn't sound wrong at all, specially the way he put it. I scoffed before slowly slipping into my truck and starting him up. All three of us head back to the road for me to do the rest of my patrol.

At the end of my shift, Sideswipe was speeding the entire time to get to my house quicker with his bother on his tail. Is the scary, murderous looking yellow twin excited for me to give him a wash? Maybe he isn't as bad as Lennox was saying?

But the moment that thought passed by in my brain, a quick flashback popped up said thought was squashed down. Never, ever trust anyone again.

It seemed like they, mostly just Sideswipe, didn't care that much about taking the potholes slowly. Both pulled up, in front of the Ford parking and idling, waiting for me to get on with their wash.

I also pulled up next to them in my rightful spot, they were smart enough to not take it, and shut off my truck. I went inside, to do everything that was needed to be done after work. But while in the middle of it, Sideswipe must have thought I was taking too long and decided to make it known.

Sideswipes holoform arms wrapped gently around my waist, careful of my aching ribs. "Come on, you have more important things to do then whatever your doing." He tried to drag me away from putting dog food in the dogs' bowl. That didn't work out well for him as I thought he was some stranger in my house and used some of my training on him.

Firstly, I grabbed his right arm and twisted it, making him let go of me before using my foot to push kick behind his knee, forcing him on one of his knees. Next, I once again twist his arm still in my grasp behind his back. Lastly, I let go of his arm and put him in a full Nelson, holding him there tightly.

"Hey! What was that for?" Sideswipe whined, trying to get out of my full Nelson. I realize it wasn't an intruder or some stranger walking into my house and released him.

"Well, don't walk up behind me and wrap your arms around me. That's not a smart idea in the first and now you learned your lesson hopefully." I wasn't apologetic about what had happened to him at all but since he doesn't know of my past, he doesn't know what he can or cannot do to me. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Sunstreaker standing there in his holoform with the smallest of smirks on his face before it disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"Sorry, anyway, hurry up. it's not comfortable having organic slag in your gears," Sideswipe pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah. My dogs are first then I need change into my clothes before giving you both a wash. To fill your time till I'm ready, go open the garage and wait patiently outside. Don't touch anything though." With that said and done, I got back to work, feeding the dogs and getting changed into hot pink short-shorts, a purple tank top, and me being a little daring by not wearing any shoes or flip-flops on.

For the fun of it, I let the dogs out to help me with cleaning the half a million dollar cars. Vivian went straight to the meaner twin of the two and jumped excitedly with her paws on his thighs since she is shorter then Kodiak. He looked like he wanted to push her off but instead kneeled down to her level and begun to scratch her belly.

Kodiak went to the childish twin and jumped on him, nearly taking out Sideswipe's face with his paw. Of course, Sideswipe started play with the happy pup, leaving me to deal with the two dirty Lambos; though this might be a good thing.

Before I could get within ten feet of the yellow Lamborghini, Sunstreaker spoke up. "Dare scratch me or mess up my paint more than it is, I will squish you like the fleshbag you are."

With a bit fear evident on my face, I nodded tightly and gave him my truthful word. "I'll treat you like one of my own and as you can see, I treat my vehicles to the best of my abilities," I said before going to the side of the house to grab the hose neatly wrapped up.

Everything needed to make these dirty beauties look better was in front of me. The first thing I did is use the hose to spray Sideswipe down for the mud to hopefully come off. If it doesn't after a few minutes of spraying, I'll have to use a sponge to scrub off the caked on dirt.

After being done watering down Sideswipe, I remembered about playing some tunes for this to be much more fun than it is. Also it would me to take my mind off of my aching ribs. I lightly jog into the open garage, ignoring my ribs protesting, and plug in my phone to the radio inside of here.

The song that was picked first was 'All Time Low by Jon Bellion' with others behind it. I headed back to my job given to me and continued what I was doing.

While getting the rims to shine so you could see your reflection in them, I heard a low cat-calling whistle behind me. I turned my head to see who dared to do that and glared with the very well known mother-glare towards the childish twin.

Sideswipe looked around like he was innocent when we all know he wasn't. "What? I didn't do anything." Since he wanted to play it that way, I sprayed cold hose water on his undercarriage. He definitely didn't like that and revved his engine before shifting into reverse and getting as far away as he deemed safe.

"That was mean! I didn't even do anything," he cried out like a big baby and pouted with his arms crossed his bottom lip pushing out. I stood up and turned in his direction, my face saying 'really?'.

"How about you apologize and own up to what you did? Don't play any games with me," I grounded out while walking up to the taller holoform and ignoring his brother who has Vivi's full attention.

A smirk played his lips and started to walk towards me, making me feel a bit confused but more uncomfortable about him advancing on me. Every step he took towards me, I took one back with him until I met a problem: the back of my calves met the front of the red Lamborghini.

There wasn't much I couldn't do with my brain going to overdrive, thinking about all the bad things he could do. He lend over me, forcing me to fall back on the nearly dry hood, and put his arms on either side of my upper body, trapping me against his alt. mode.

I couldn't take anymore and finally snapped out of my trance before giving him an elbow to the throat. He gladly moved out of the way to protect his throat from anymore assault, giving me the chance to scramble off of the hood. I point at him with tears prickling in my eyes and a fierce look on my face. "Leave, _now_!"

With that said and done, I call the dogs to me and have them go in the house. Vivian was being stubborn and was staying with Sunstreaker, I didn't like that at all and ordered her to come to me. She followed through with a sad look in her eyes and entered the house with her tail between her legs.

Slamming the door shut and making sure to lock all the bolts, I slide down the door until my butt hit the ground and buried my head into my knees. Tears fell freely from my eyes as fear, worse then be captured by the Cons, grew in the pit of my stomach.

The dogs tried to comfort me by licking my face or jumping on me but I told them to go away. They gladly listened to my command left me alone to cry to myself.

If I allowed him to continue, he would have done some bad things to me. You can't trust anyone, Aubrey. No one is trustable except yourself. You rarely disappoint yourself.

Time seemed to slowly tick by without me realizing it until the garage door opened and revealed Will. He immediately saw my crying and shaking form pressed against the front door and rushed over to me. His hands lifted my head from being buried in my knees and sighed with sympathy at the sight of me.

Will gently wiped the dripping tears from my face. "I'm so sorry about them. We'll get you a new guardian right away." But when he said that, in the smallest part of my brain, it told me not to let the twins go. For some reason, I followed that tiny command.

"No, I overreacted and would like for them to stay as my guardians," I stated with my voice slightly shaky. The salt and pepper hair man in front of me expressed shock from me wanting near the one who pushed past my boundaries.

"Are you sure, Brey? 'Cause I can have them not able to come miles near your house," Will offered and carefully helped me off the ground of my dirty floors.

"Yeah, I need to get over my fears like I somehow easily did with the bots. But I do need to give him a nice nut shot with a paintball gun or fist."

At least I got a chuckle out of him and he patted my back. "Don't worry, Ironhide is already taking care of that for you." Not even a second later, the sound of two high-powered engines flew pass my house with a low grumbly engine right on their tails. Though it did confused me on why Ironhide would care about giving me justice, we barely even know each other.

With me calmed down from my crying, he took me over to his house after knowing Sideswipe will be busy for awhile. Sarah fed me for the night and I played with Anna for about an hour or two before heading back to house. I dealt with the dogs and went to bed but didn't fall asleep not-so-peacefully.


	13. Chapter 13: An Unwanted Trip

**Here's another Chapter! Little a late, I do apologize but at least it's being delivered.**

A sigh left my mouth and my fingers pinched the bridge of my nose. "Does it look like I can take any time off? Tipps is nearly beyond pissed with me randomly skipping work, taking a week off without any warning, and now going to the base for however long until the bad guys go bye-bye. Please tell you're joking." I needed to be paid enough this month so I have a house to live in.

Both of the men in front of me shook their heads. "Sorry Brey, but after you getting captured by Barricade and running into Breakdown wasn't a coincidence, we can't take any risks on your safety. But I did talk to your sergeant and you're going to get R-time for missing work," Epps answered with sympathy in his voice.

R-time? I remember being told what that was when I was in training but never had the reason to use it until now. "At least I'm going to be paid while out. Fine, let me get a few things packed and I'm taking the dogs with me. I don't trust anyone else except myself for keeping them safe," I argued, a sharp tone to my voice. I love those dogs like they were my own flesh and blood because they have given me company in my darkest times.

"Bring a lead line or leashes-actually bring both. You don't want one of them to get under one of the bots pedes," Will allowed me to bring the dogs. With our agreement done for, I went back inside of my house and packed everything needed for a week stay at the base as they don't know how long I'll be staying there.

A duffle bag and two large plastic bags of dogs' food later, I was ready to leave for my unwanted stay. I'd rather be out in the field, working side by side with the animals of Maine. That's the reason for me becoming a Game Warden in the first place but I am being forced to go somewhere for 'safety'. I'd rather have not been dragged into this mess anyway.

Will wasn't going to let me take my truck sadly and I decided to ride with Sideswipe, even with what happened about five days ago. I needed to get over what happened in the past and not let it mess with me in future. That's what my goal is anyway.

Not too surprising, the inside of Sideswipe's alt. mode had back seats which the dogs were forced back there. He allowed me to sit in the driver seat so the car had a "driver" to everyone's else's eyes.

Vivian, being the cutie and sweetheart she is, decided to hop in the empty passenger seat once the driver side door was shut. "Vivi, get back in the back." I ordered while giving her the mother look. She gave me her normal pathetic looking sad face.

"It's fine, she can be our co-pilot," he offered and it did sound like a good idea because you cannot say that to her face, it's nearly impossible with her.

I left her to her own devices. "C-can I drive for a little bit?" I asked bashfully while rubbing my hands nervously together. I really wanna to drive the beautiful red Lamborghini and feel the power under his hood.

His chuckled sounded around me from the speakers. "Of course, I was going to offer that anyway." I squealed like pig and jumped in my seat with excitement. My hands gripped the leather steering wheel tightly before running both of them along the sides of it, feeling the smoothness.

The entire inside of his alt. mode shook and the seatbelt tightened, pulling me against the leather seats. "I would stop if I were you." His voice dropped a couple octaves and literally rumbled the inside of his alt. mode. My hands flew to my lap at the moment he said that and a heavy blush covered my face.

"I'm-I'm sorry. I-I didn't kn-know," I apologized quickly and kept my gaze down at my hands. The seatbelt slightly loosened in reaction of my apology.

"Remember where you are when you're with us," Sideswipe reminded, still with his voice lower. I nodded my head swiftly then placed my hands back on the steering wheel and put the supercar into drive. This was going to be a long ride to the base.

Yep, I called it; it felt like one eternity later when we finally drove passed the guard station. Will, who was with Ironhide, lead us to the big Main hangar where I could see a couple of bots talking with each other or some of the humans.

Sideswipe took over the controls and decided to do a burnout and zoom pass Ironhide. That's what happened until Ironhide's voice came through the speakers, anger evident in his voice. "Sideswipe! Get your aft back over here or I swear to Primus I will drag you by your audi-." Sideswipe interrupted the raging weapon specialist.

"Whoa, calm down before you glitch 'Hide. I'm going to show Brey where the cool places are so she doesn't have to hang around you old bots." Not a good choice of words in my opinion; I would respect my higher-ups if I were him. I have gotten on the wrong end of a weapon specialist before, AKA Steele.

"Sideswipe, you shouldn't anger him. Being on the wrong end of a weapon specialist is not the greatest idea in the world," I warned with my voice hinting at a bit of fright.

He started to argue with me before stopping and sighing. "Fine- wait! Has Ironhide threatened you?!" he sounded a bit pissed off at the ridiculous assumption.

"No-no-no, I was talking about Steele. He was a weapon specialist when he was in the military. One time, I pissed him off so much for the fun of it… well, let's just say it wasn't pretty for me," I chuckled nervously at the brought up memory of angering Dom.

"He hurt you! Oh, that glitch. When I get done with him…" he trailed off. Why was he getting- oh no! He's going to turn into _him_…

"Sideswi-," he interrupted me this time.

"Sides, you can call me Sides."

"O-oh, okay. It's fine, I was joking anyway. Dom would never hurt me in his life, no matter how mad I made him." I was an okay liar if I thought up a good excuse but this was off the fly and sounded worse than a five year old lying.

"You're a terrible liar, Brey. Don't worry; he'll learn not to mess with you again." At the sound of words, my hands were shaking as memories of him showed up in my brain. Both can't control me, not now, not ever.

"No! Don't you dare hurt him, or God help me, I will bash in your head so badly, not even your brother would recognize you," I nearly growled from protectiveness over my great friend. I could feel the tension between us growing even thicker at the end of my sentence but gladly he didn't make any more comments.

Sides drops my dogs and I off at the Main hangar with Will and Ironhide before him and his brother peel away from us. I felt the tiniest bad for saying those words to him and wanted to chase after him to apologize but Will stopped me. "What's their problem?" Will questioned.

I shrug my shoulders as if I didn't know. "I don't know. So could I have a room to put my stuff, though I wouldn't mind staying out with the stars," I joked, allowing a smile to grace my lips.

"Of course you would but sure." He turns to 'Hide who was still in his alt. mode. "Could you take us to the barracks?"

"Do I look like a taxi?" he grunted, sounding the tiniest bit ticked off about being asked that. Will gave him a look and Ironhide gave in by opening his door and giving a rough 'get in'. I nearly forget about the dogs.

"Wait, Ironhide. Could I put the dogs in the bed and sit with them on the tailgate?" I inquired politely, still a little bit fearful of saying something wrong around these guys.

All he gave me as an answer was the tailgate falling down not-so-softly. "You owe me a wash for doing this for you and your mutts." I couldn't really argue with him and nodded my head.

The puppies already knew what the tailgate dropping meant and rushed to the back end of the sentient truck. Kodiak was the first and only to be able to get one the back of the tall truck bed. While Vivian placed her front paws on the edge of the tailgate, waiting for me to lift her up there and I did just that. I set down my duffle bag of clothes and other womanly supplies and the two large plastic bags of dog on it.

Jumping up on the tailgate and sitting my butt down on it, Ironhide gets his wheels rolling towards the barracks. I wave a good-bye to Mirage and Drift still in the Main hangar and happily received a wave from the two of them.

We arrived at the barracks a couple of minutes later thanks to Ironhide being our escort and he waited not-so-patiently for us to finish. Will and I walked up the stairs, him carrying the dog's food and the dogs following closely behind, until we reached a room on the second floor. He opens it and both of us enter the small room; it wouldn't matter anyway, I won't be in here that often.

He sets down the dog food on the only desk in here and I put down my duffle bag on the neatly made bed. "Let's get back down before 'Hide gets too impatiently of us 'taking our time'," Will pointed out and I agreed on that. Ironhide was has the worse patience in the world.

All four of us rush down the stairs of the three story tall building, the dogs thinking we are playing chase and tried to trip us on the way back to Ironhide. Gladly the dogs failed in their attempt of fun and we made it back to Ironhide safely.

Once again, three of us are sitting in the bed of Ironhide's alt. mode while Will gets the pleasure of sitting up in the front. This won't be fun when the weapon specialist makes me wash him and hopefully not clean his interior or that will be a little too far in my opinion.

Ironhide takes us back to the Main hangar and drops us off before heading off somewhere on the base. Will leads me up the tall staircase and onto the large platform, letting me take a seat at a semi-cover desk of papers. Now that's going to make me mad about how disorganized it all is.

"Will, do excuse my French, but what in the fuck is this mess in front of me? You know I'm a perfectionist and thought it was a good idea to sit me in front of this bullshit," I scolded and crossed my arms over my chest, a glint in my eyes.

"It's not tha-okay, yep I know what to say to that face. Go right ahead and do your thing. But! No over working yourself, I don't need you collapsing in my living room again," Will ordered. Out of nowhere, Ratchet comes from around the corner of the Main hangar, his eyes already finding mine with a hardened glare.

"You what! What's with you humans thinking you can do everything," Ratchet grumbled out loud and made his way over to us, standing in front of us about eye level with us.

I nervously scratched the back of neck and keeping my eyes away from his direction. "At least we aren't one of the ones that sit on their butt and play one their phone like children these days. But yeah, she did that once. I think it was called the Haiser case or something like that."

"She wanted to catch this guy so badly she overworked herself so much, she collapsed in my living room. Gave me and Sarah a fright when we thought she died." Great, now he has to tell everyone in the base about my past mistakes.

"Shut up. I caught the guy in the end about two days after the whole ordeal so it doesn't need to be brought up anymore," I mumbled and glared at the major of the base. He gave me a toothy smile before leaving to go and talk to someone else. Which meant, I had to deal with the pissed off CMO.

"If I ever have you in my Med. Bay for something like that, I will force you to take it easy." He did not sound happy on any level; note to self: don't get hurt while on base or you'll face the wrath of Ratchet.

Being done with the cleaning of the desk, I was beginning to get bored sitting there with the two dogs play fighting. I decided to see if anything else would entertain my attention.

And I found it not too later in the day. Ironhide was training some of the soldiers of the base, making sure to keep them on their toes about the bad bots. Still don't have a firm grasp of what's going on why they are here and between the two factions.

"If you're going to stand there and do nothing, you might as well join us," Ironhide grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.

An idea came to mind while he was talking. "Actually, I have something even better then joining. I have an offer for you: we go against each other in sparring and shooting. If I win both, you have to take me to Baskin Robins and pay for what I get and paint yourself hot pink for an entire week." This is going to be good if he agrees.

"Fine but when I win, I can ask you anytime to give me a wash and clean my interior for two weeks." High stakes on the line, hopefully this is worth it.

"Deal." We both nodded our heads at the same time.

"You boys and girls can take a break or watch the outcome of this," Ironhide offered before leading me to the area where the outdoor shooting range is. Last time we went against each other, I got my ass literally handed to me. I know there is chance for me to win against him in sparring. He may be bigger than me and have more strength then me but I have skill on my side. You don't mess with an ex-wrestler.

Remembering the dogs most likely won't like the loud bang noises from the gun, I asked for one of the soldiers to take the dogs away. She gladly agreed and took them about fifty feet away for their safety.

The rules are we only get one minute to empty a clip while hitting bull's-eyes on the sheet of paper on the other end of the shooting range. Also Ironhide will be using his holoform so it about fair size wise between the two of us. Lastly, no distracting the shooter or you will get disqualified from the match.

First up was Ironhide; as he stepped up to the 'barricade', he turned to me. "Good luck." He must have remembered last time when he nearly demolished me. With that said, he took aim and easily emptied the clip in less than thirty seconds.

From our position (including all the soldiers who wanted to watch), we could tell he made every single one as it made a big hole in the middle. At that moment, I knew I fucked up. Going against a weapon specialist in a shooting challenge is like a fighting fire with a tree branch, this won't end well for me.

One of the soldiers ran over and set up a new poster for me to shoot. He came back with Ironhide's and showed us what it looked like up close. The entire middle was missing, meaning he didn't miss a shot and had a ten out of ten score.

All of them had a worried look at the sight of the destroyed paper, knowing I'm going to literally get my ass handed to me by the brute. I didn't let that stop me though and erase any emotion of worry or dread on my face. I stepped up to the plate with the gun he used in hand. It was warm from his grip and from how many bullets flew from the barrel so quickly.

The first shot from the gun started the timer, making me hurriedly shoot the rest of the bullets, not leaving one bullet in the clip. I realized I had closed my eyes during the thing, scared to see the end result of my great shooting. I may be a great shooter on the Game Warden service but that's not going to help me going against Ironhide.

Lopez ran over to my poster and grabbed it before rushing back to us with a grim look on his face. He held it out in front of us and a sigh left my mouth.

My bullet holes all made it into the center except three of them; this meant I lost and had to wash the weapon specialist at anytime he wanted. The next thing we have on the list was sparring against each other and this is my chance where I can either get him to paint himself hot pink or take me out for Baskin Robins.

Ironhide lead us over to where the wrestling mats are which were covered by a thin layer of dust from lack of use. We didn't say anything to each other, knowing we are both matched for each other and nothing needed to be said.

We both got into position and waited for the referee to start us off. When given the signal to begin, we circled each other, sizing the other and observing for any weakness. What caught my eye was how top heavy he is. His legs were just strong enough to hold his weight but probably not enough for an extra one-hundred and eighty.

First off, I went for a drive which was when you plow your shoulder into their stomach and grab the back of their calves. Then you slightly lift up and pull their legs out from underneath them, easily taking them down to the ground. It worked for me and went down quickly.

The salt and pepper holoform used the fall to advantage and twist us around so he was on top. He held both of my wrists in his grasp, pinning them to the mat while straddling my hips. He thought he had me but after a few years of wrestling under my belt, I knew how to get out of this.

I was able to get my legs free and plant them on his chest. With all the strength in my legs, I push him back and rapidly get back on feet waiting for him to attack me this time. Since he was mostly strength and muscle, he was having a tiny bit of trouble getting off the ground. I use that to my advantage this time.

With him still getting off the ground, I grabbed one of his arms and twisted it behind his back. This causes him to scramble to get his arm released and away from the painful position it is in. That doesn't work for him and I grabbed his other arm, also putting his painfully behind his back.

He falls onto his face without his upper support. I use my legs to pull his knees out from underneath him and straddle the brute on the ground. I waited for the few seconds for me to win. When the referee sounded the whistle, I let him go and got off the ground, proud of beating him and getting Baskin Robins after this.

All the soldiers around me clapped and cheered for me winning a battle thought of me losing. Ironhide got off the ground and stuck out his hand as to shake on it. We did but he squeezed my hand tightly, nearly crushing my hand in the process.

"You had me there. How are you so good? Normally the femmes on your planet don't know how to defend themselves," Ironhide pointed out of the obvious.

A smirk grew on my lips as a few memories of me doing wrestling in middle and high school when I was younger. "I wasn't like any of the other girls in school. I actually went against school code and join wrestling for the fun of it. I won few and learned a lot from my mistakes," I explained as his real form rolled up to us and transformed. His holoform disappeared out of nowhere, making it seem like he was only a ghost.

"Also you owe me a Baskin Robbin trip once I'm allowed to leave."

"Okay, a deal is a deal but you owe a wash whenever I ask for it." Damn, almost forgot about that. With the whole thing said and for, we split ways: him training some of the soldiers of the base and I going back to my room with my dogs to rest up. I haven't done something like that in a while and my muscles were already getting a little sore from the exercise.

The day was coming to an end and I was sure thankful for that. Hopefully soon I can go back to my job and home for that matter. I do appreciate Will watching out for my safety and taking me to the secret military base but I'd rather be at home.

Kodiak and Vivian couldn't fit on the small cot and I knew they would cry and do their bitch until they could sleep with me. Instead of wanting to listen to that, I grabbed a pillow and blanket from the cot and laid down on the floor. The dogs found their normal spots on or near my body and easily fell asleep. I, on the other hand, stared off into space without the intention of falling of asleep.


	14. Chapter 14: Time to Drive

"So if I win this, I get to drive you guys around for the entire day unless you're requested by someone else," I confirmed and grabbed the Xbox controller in front of me. I'd rather play something on the PS4 but since they only have Call of Duty for the Xbox, this is what I have to play with.

Both Jazz's and Bee's holoform nodded their heads. "Yep but if one of us wins, you have ta give said winner a wash," Jazz offered his side of the deal. I tilt my head to the side like a lost puppy and a look of confusion grew on my face.

"What's with you guys always wanting to get a washing from me? When I lost against Ironhide for a shooting challenge, he wanted me to wash him," I pointed out while sitting comfortable on the ground in front of the T.V.

"Wha' ah heard from tha Terror Twins and 'Hide, you take your time and make sure to get within tha cracks. Even Sunstreaker said you did an okay job, that's something you don't take lightly," Jazz explained and took a spot next to Bee on the human size couch. Wait, Sunstreaker said I did alright. Doesn't he not like the human population?

With that said and done, we begun the round against each other; well, Bee and I are going against each other while Jazz waits his turn.

The black and yellow scout was literally handing me my ass back to me during the first and only round against each other. The only console I have ever owned was a Nintendo 64 and usually only played Mario and a skiing game. None of these controls made sense to me, probably why Bee is demolishing me and not how he is a hardened warrior in the middle of a war.

Let's not even mention how many kills he got on me and skip to where Jazz actually gave me a chance against him. He was only making me feel better about myself before he did the same thing Bee did and destroy me in the end. I guess they really want that wash they didn't want to pass up the chance to lose.

"That was very anti-climatic. Let's just gets this over with before the dogs decide to take off again and give someone a scare," I ushered the two holoforms. It was true; Kodi nearly bit this person who decided to taunt the overly large dog with a piece of meat.

Bee gave me a pick-me-up to where they wash the other non-sentient vehicles; hopefully they have a good kind of soap for the pretty cars I'm going to wash. I guess it's not that bad, now I can put on my resume that I have washed Lambos, a Camaro, a Topkick, and a Pontiac Solstice.

"So what have you guys been up to with the Deceptercon's?" I knew that wasn't their name but couldn't fully remember what it was for the life of me. I filled up the cleanest looking bucket from the small hanger and put what looked like the most expensive looking jug of car soap into the bucket.

"The Decepticons. We have been watching out for any activity from the slightly sign of a signal or any new energon despots found by them. What about your job? Heard you found Breakdown and got into the mix of the Terror Twins and Breakdown's battle," Jazz corrected the name. Now I got to remember the name Decepticons.

Next, I sprayed down Jazz first with the cold water causing his frame to shiver noticeably. "Sorry. But that sounds boring sitting around, doing next to nothing. I did find some sort of blue-grey giant in the forest. Scared me half to death when he did his shifting thing out of nowhere. I think I was able to shoot out his eye or something that hurt him badly." I continued to wash him while having a somewhat comfortable conversation with him.

There was no way to be fully comfortable around men in my life, they give me too much of a scare and leave me on my toes at every second around them. Even with Zeke and Dom, they still make feel unsecure around them and I have known them for almost my entire career and still feel that way.

It was worst when Sideswipe tried to do whatever was boiling inside of his head. It wasn't his fault though, he doesn't know about what happened before moving to Maine and would never know about that. Only three people know the little bits and pieces of it and those people are Will, Zeke, and Dominick.

"Brey?" Bee spoke up and snapped me out of my starring off phase. I looked up from the ground and gazed over to the idling bumblebee colored Camaro.

"Yeah?" I questioned softly with my eyes looking innocently. I wanted to look like nothing was going inside of my mind, like there wasn't a hurricane of thoughts blowing this way and that.

"Are you okay? You blanked out after telling us about shooting Breakdown," Bee explained, acting like he was talking to a five year old that had a nightmare.

I shrug my shoulders like it was nothing while inside of my head, it was a storm only brewing even more. "Yeah, I'm okay. I was thinking about what I'm going to do for the rest of the day," I lied right between my teeth. That was one of the lies that are always ready to be used and thought up well.

"Okay," was all he gave me before going quiet. I stopped spraying down Jazz and started to scrub him down with a poor excuse of a car sponge.

"Sides and Sunny did say you hit him in the optic. It helped them to take him down before he fled," Jazz praised in my ability to hit the giant brute. I didn't respond and kept to myself while doing my best with the bullshit cleaning supplies there was in the small hangar.

The scene from when Sides pinned me against his alt. mode kept rolling inside of my mind. It has been over a week since it happened and now my brain decided to bring it up while cleaning Jazz's and Bee's alt mode. Such a convenient time to do this brain: note the sarcasm.

Does he like me? Or was he trying to get inside of my pants since there doesn't seem to be a lot of females around the base? His brother would never accept that anyway from what the tall tale story of him despising humans.

Why am I thinking about being with Sides? He's an alien robot from space; it would never, ever work out. Plus males, including them space, are overrated. Girls know how to easily take care of themselves and don't need someone else to add to that list. Males need to suck their nonexistent dick and fuck off, they need to leave woman alone in the first place.

Sides is probably like ninety-eight percent of male population: only use woman for their pleasure before throwing them away like trash. I don't want to make the same mistake made and that's what got her killed in the end, literally.

Before going too far down the rabbit hole, I snapped myself out of my thoughts and focused on cleaning the Pontiac in front of me. "So Jazz, I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but what do you do here?" Still uneasy about pissing them off by saying the wrong thing.

"'Stepping on any toes here'? But I don't have any human toes." He sounded like a lost puppy by saying that sentence. I chuckled quietly to myself and shook my head in reaction.

"It's a metaphor. Meaning I don't want to upset you by getting nosey of your personal stuff," I explained, trying my best not to laugh at his lack of knowledge of human concept. That does remind me, how long have they been on Earth.

"Oh, you humans make up the weirdest sentences. Don't worry, you ain't going to upset me. I'm the third in command while Prowl is second in command if anything ever happens to Optimus. I usually help with the data pad work since Ratchet doesn't let me do much."

"When we arrived to Earth, we needed to find these glasses with the cube's location on them. The Decepticons found it first and we had a big battle in a city named Mission City." I remembered it all over the news about it being a terrorist attack but never saying who did it, making me think they weren't giving all the details.

"Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, got a hold of me and ripped me into two. Ratchet was able to save me from joining the Well of Allspark but doesn't let me have any fun. I'd rather not piss the CMO off anymore then Terror Twins do or I would have my aft welded to the ceiling." During the middle of his explanation of what happened, I started to lightly stroke my hand on his hood to comfort him. I knew how it felt to be injured in battle but never as grave as how bad his was.

"I'm sorry to hear that but glad you're alive to see another day. I wouldn't be able to meet you if you joined the Well of Allspark. Are the Terror Twins that bad?" I questioned with uncertainly in my voice. From my point of view, they are pretty nice beings to talk to. Well, except that one time with Sides. But even Sunstreaker seems okay enough to have a conversation with him besides the few glares he sends my way.

Jazz backed up from the stroking of my head and I retracted my hand back to my side. "If you are glad to meet me, then why are you always so tense around all of us, including me? Don't act like I can't see it, your heart rate always speeds up when one of us are near you, even in our holoform," he ignored my questioned from before and went straight into his own.

Like any other time, I didn't want to tell him the truth as he hasn't earned it. We have only known each other for like a month or so, he hasn't even earned my full respect for him. "That's none of your business. Now would you answer my question." My voice was low and dangerous sounding. Now he needed to know about poking the bear too many times.

Bee spoke up out of nowhere and I nearly forgot he was near us. "Jazz, don't," he warned his buddy, making me think Jazz likes to continue to push peoples buttons for the fun of it.

"I'm not going to. She'll tell it in her own time and I'll be waiting here, patiently until she does," Jazz stated like that was going to ever happen in my lifetime. I ignored his last comment and continued cleaning, rinsing, and dry the silver Pontiac.

After finishing up with Jazz as quickly as possible, I moved on to Bee and did a quick but an alright job on his frame. I didn't want to be near these two at the moment, especially after what just went down and wanted to play with the dogs who are waiting somehow patiently off to the side.

While picking up the supplies used an putting them away, Jazz and Bee rolled up next to me. The dogs were in the back of the Camaro with both of the front windows rolled down for them to stick their heads out. "How about we go for that drive?" Jazz offered.

An involuntary smile grew on my face and I tried my hide from the two. I would never pass up the opportunity to drive a Camaro or Pontiac, that's like the most stupid thing in the world. "Fine because I really want to but this doesn't mean I'm going to talk about what you said is a thing." I hopped into the Pontiac and a hug ass grin grew on my face, that one was impossible to hide.

"Let's see how fast you can go." With that said, I stepped on the gas pedal, making his back tires spin to gain traction on the concrete. Once they finally caught, we shot forward with great speed and the needle on his dash board was climbing quickly.

I paid no attention to how fast we were going and only paid attention to the objects in front of us. This is what I was good at, driving at high speeds. I gained this skill from being a Game Warden and speeding to get to an accident or something that required me to get there quickly.

Adrenaline was rushing through my veins as I kept the pedal to the floor. "This is so much fun," I cheered out loud with my gripping the steering wheel even tighter. I take a sharp turn, causing us to drift around a light pole near one of the main buildings.

In the rearview mirror, I could see the flash of a yellow vehicle, meaning Bumblebee has been able to somehow keep up with my crazy driving. I slowed down after about ten more minutes of driving and hopped out with my legs wobbling underneath me.

"Okay, I needed to stop myself before I get carried away," I slightly giggled like a school girl and leaned carefully against the side of the silver Pontiac.

The window rolled down next to me. "I didn't know you could drive like that. Anytime you want to, come get me at anytime. That was fun," he declared the obvious.

"I'll have to take you up on the offer," I accepted before strolling over to the black and yellow Camaro and leaning down to rest arms on the open window sill. "So, I saw you were able to keep up with us; good job on that. I'm called a speed racer for reason."

"It wasn't- that hard to- keep up with- you," Bee teased as if my skills were nothing compared to him.

"Uh-huh. The dogs totally believe you back there. Anyway, thanks for hanging out with me but I got to see what Wild Bill is up to and make sure he isn't up to anything bad," I joked around and called Will by his nickname. Bee pushed the door open carefully so I could move back in time and he slides the passenger seat forward so the dogs could hop out.

They happily escape the Camaro and excitedly jump on me, silently saying they were missing me. I give them a few pets and gave both of the disguised bots a thank you. The dogs followed me to the Main hangar where Will will most likely be.

My thoughts were correct as I saw Will, Epps, and Fig talking along each other on the catwalk with a few other soldiers. My neighbor spots me from the ground and excuses himself and my other two buddies with him. They all come down to ground level and an idea struck inside of my brain. "Kodiak, attack! Attack!"

With his command received with his name, he locks onto the nearest person to him, not including me, which was one of three males about twenty feet away from us. He takes off with his nails clicking against the concrete and tongue already hanging out.

All three men showed fear and betrayal on their faces. Then they all spin around and took off in the opposite direction of the scary looking mix chasing after them. Three grown ass men are running like scared little rabbits, with nowhere to hide or get away from Kodiak.

Within half a second, Kodiak reached Will and tackled him roughly to the ground. Will tried to push the thought-to-be-attacking dog of him but stopped when he realized Kodi was licking him and not tearing him into pieces. He stands up after Kodi let him go and even from the distance between us, I could see the glare in my direction. "What in the actual fuck, Lambert?" Oh, shit. The last name was brought out.

"Oh, I didn't tell you about the new trick I was teaching Kodi. Whoops," I acted like the most innocent person in the world. He marched all the way over to me with Epps, Fig, and Kodi on his tail.

A glare that would scare Satan himself was on his face but I have seen worse compared to his. Sadly he couldn't keep the glare up and started to laugh, nearly doubling over from laughing too hard. The other two were finally able to laugh at how funny the situation was.

"I wish you got to see your face. Now that was fucking funny as Hell. You were all like 'ahh' while Kodiak was chasing you," I teased my great and gave him a poke in the shoulder.

"Why would you ever teach a dog to do that?" he questioned, still a little mad at how he was humiliated by me in front of the entire Main hangar.

"So I could do that. Plus saying attack and having him only attack you with kisses is pretty funny. You have to agree with me with that." He did not agree and told me I have some more organizing to do. Note to self: don't humiliate Will in front of his co-workers or you'll learn your lesson.


	15. Chapter 15: Sparring

**We got another one boys and girls and everyone in between. I want to alert you guys that at the end of the month, I'm going out of state for a week. I probably won't have internet access which means I won't be able to update that week. I'll update two chapters the week before though. Anyway, thank you everyone who has added my story to their board or have followed it! Each time I get the notification, it always brings a smile to my face. **

While Will was showing me where the papers needing to be organized, some idiotic soldier decided to call me out. "That dog ain't that scary. The only thing he'll be able to scare is a fly." Some of the soldiers around him shook their heads, telling him not to. They probably know about me beating the big, bad weapon specialist.

Both Will and I stop in our tracks, I snap my head in his direction with a non-amused expression on my face. "You think so?" He nodded his head confidently and ignoring the people surrounding him. "Okay then, let's test that theory on you. Come down here and I'll see if he scares you," I leisurely threw out there.

The look on his face drained but he quickly slapped on his confident face and came down the stairs. "He's such a cutie and wouldn't even hurt a bug if you command it," he mocked, though he didn't get too close to Kodiak.

"Sure, keep talking darlin' and we'll see who's right and who's wrong," I said cheekily and placed a hand on my guard dog. "Vivi is who you must be talking about. The only way she would kill you is by licking you to death." I stroked the top of Kodi's head, getting him to pay attention to me.

One of the many commands I have taught him is still slightly unknown to him and he needs to be paying almost full attention to me. "Who's a good boy, Kodi? You're such a good boy," I praised and gained his attention. This didn't impress Hogan (the soldier) in front of me.

Everyone seemed to be watching this unfold in front of their eyes, including Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-One. "Kodiak, Kodiak, you know what to do. Schreken, Schreken Kodiak," I commanded, making sure to keep his attention by repeating the command and his name.

Kodi perks up from his relaxed position before lunging forward, teeth bared and a growl deep in his throat. Hogan jumped back, tripped over his feet, and crawled back with his face evident of the fear coursing through his body. "Get that thing away from me," he screamed, clearly afraid of my sweet puppy dog.

"Kodi, good boy. That's such a good boy," I praised him once he came back over to me and gave him a few pats and belly rubs, telling him he did well.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vivi race off and making me to worry about where she is going. The familiar sight of the two Lamborghinis pulling up caused an unknown feeling boil in my stomach; one that was defiantly not welcomed. But I pushed it down like it was nothing and gave chase after her; didn't want her to get under a bots foot and go squish.

It freaked me out when they both transformed into their bi-pedal form since Vivi was nearly at their hoods when they transformed. Yet, Sunstreaker seemed to be even more careful with Vivian was so close to them. For some reason, that caused my heart to warm at the thought of him caring about Vivi.

My grasp on Kodi's collar wasn't tight enough as he took off running towards Sides. I stop in my tracks and calm down from worrying over the smaller mix of the two. Sunstreaker bent down and gave her a couple of pets on the head before smacking his brother's head for no reason.

The yellow twin glared at Sides and the red twin only smirk cheekily at him. Sides saw me slowly walking over to them, I trying to grab the dogs and get out of here, and changed his gaze down at me. "Hey, shortie. You're coming with us, including those two," he greeted with an unnecessary nickname and pointed down at the dogs at their feet.

"Wait, don't I have any say in this?" I asked confused about him coming in here and demanding me to come with them.

"Nope." With that, he scopes me off the ground and transforms around me, giving me whiplash by the how he did that. I was sitting in the driver seat and the memory of what happened the last time surfaced in mind; a blush covered my cheeks in reaction. The seatbelt slithers over my chest and locks into place, securing me to the seat.

"What about the dogs?" I question, a little worried about them leaving them here. I tried to move look out the window to see where they were.

Sides engine revved loudly and echoed in the hangar we are in. "Don't worry, Sunny has them safe and sound." I couldn't help but feel only a little protective of my dogs and not the usual when someone else is taking care of my dogs. A small part of me was glad someone else could hold passion for my only nearby family.

All I could do was nod my head, not making an effort to answer him with my voice. From where ever his 'eyes' are inside of his alt. mode, he must have seen my nod. "You can drive if you want. I did see you driving Jazz and Bee, what was that about?" I was excited about him allowing me to drive again and jumped in my seat, joyfully.

Sunstreaker pulls in front of us and starts off at a slower pace, as if letting me get use to driving Sides (one of the weirdest sentences in my life). I pull up close to his bumper, revving Sides engine, telling him to get his booty moving.

That sure helped him get his ass moving along. "We played a game on a console called Call of Duty and had a deal between the three of us: if I won, I can drive them for however long I want to for the rest of the day; if they won, they would get a wash. Sadly, I lost and had to pay up my side of the deal. But they were kind enough to let me drive anyway," I explained while easily keeping up with Sunstreaker.

"What?! I thought we were special ones that got washes," he pouted and I could almost see him with his lip pushed out in a pout. A strike of fear rose through me at what he said, was he trying to keep me all to himself? Alienate me from my friends? I didn't want to become what happened to my mother.

"No, it would be rude not to hold up your side of the deal. And you can't tell me who I can and cannot give a wash," I hardened my voice to get my point across; not going to get myself killed in the end.

"Ah, that's true. I wasn't telling you that, I was only joking." I could care less if he was joking or not, he would control me at all. Anger bubbled quietly at the bottom my stomach and I decided to use speed as a releaser.

Instead of following the yellow twin of the bunch, I took a hard left, causing Sides to drift to the left. His tires spin to gain traction on the hardened dirt below us and finally caught, shooting us forward with great speed. He lets out a whoop of excitement as adrenaline was rushing through my veins from the speed we are traveling at.

In mid drift, Sunstreaker's voice expelled from the speakers. "What in the Pits are you doing, Aubrey?!" His voice was loud and filled to the near brim of anger with what seemed a hint of worry. "Sides! Get back over here." This was different kind of anger, more filled with protectiveness for his brother; the one I knew very well of.

"No can do, brother. She's all in control, just the way I like it. Well, at least for the moment," Sides said, his voice deeper then it usual is. For some reason, a shiver went down my spine at his words in reaction. This time, I wasn't angry or scared at what he said, it made me wondered for a second on why was he or even Sunstreaker different than the rest of the male population of the universe.

"Sideswipe, I will personally kick you aft if-," he stopped himself from continuing his sentence and I wondered on what else he was going to say.

"Don't worry, I'll bring him back in one piece and without a scratch," I jokingly threw out there before doing a one-eighty and heading back in the direction of Sunstreaker.

"Squishy, if you hurt my brother, I'll-," he was interrupted by me.

"Honey, your brother is more than okay with me driving. Nothing's going to- ahh!" I faked screamed in fright at nothing. I wanted to mess with Sunstreaker for the fun of it, even if it meant he would yell at me. It didn't matter if he yelled at me; my mother did enough of that so it doesn't bother me anymore.

"Human! I'm going to tear you limb from limb." His threats weren't that scary to me and were brushed off like a speck of dirt on your shoulder.

"Sunny!" Sides gasped and a couple of seconds later took over the controls from me, taking us back in the direction of his brother. "Why can't you accept her? She's nice, kind, and a caring person in general." Sunstreaker kept to himself, not daring to speak up after that. The awkwardness was so thick you could cut it with a knife after everyone quieted down.

I placed my hands in my lap, keeping my mouth closed and eyes averted to my lap. That was until an idea struck me and my confidence rose a little bit. "H-hey, I have an idea. How about I do some sparring with you? You know, test out your skills against mine," I offered, perking up slightly.

The red twin seemed to rise on his axels and sped up, nearly colliding with the ass-end of Sunstreaker. "That's a great idea! We can make a deal which we are going to so win. What do you think about that, Sunny?" His brother took a few moments of silences, thinking over if it's worth it.

"Fine, same like last time: we win, we get a detailed wash; you win, which won't happen, get whatever you want." Don't have to be snarky about the whole thing, could have just said sure and be done with it.

With the deal settled for, both expensive, high-powered cars made the quickest U-turn in the known universe and started to head in the direction of the sparring area. Sitting inside of Sides' alt. mode, the purr of his engine, and the super comfortable sits made me feel almost completely relaxed with him and his brother.

They seem to be good me-mechs but with my past and history that revolved around men who weren't kind or anywhere near caring, you need to be careful around me. Even with Zeke or Dom, I was nowhere near this kind of relaxation and we have known each other since we started as a Game Warden.

The only male I can really feel safe around is my brother. It doesn't help with him all the way in Nashville; he wants to become a famous and popular musician. "What is with them being able to keep me this calm around them and not a threat in my eyes?" I muttered by accident under my breath.

"Huh? What was that, Brey?" Sides wanted me to repeat myself. My eyes widen in shock and a pink blush spread over my cheeks in embarrassment.

"N-n-nothing!" I lied poorly and silently cursed at myself internally. The seatbelt keeping pressed against the amazing leather of some sort tightened, pulling me flush with the seat. It didn't worry one bit. This is was what I was talking about; I should be freaking out and trying to escape. But I'm just sitting here like an ugly princess.

"Mmhmm. Sure, I totally believe you. Just tell me, it's as easy as one-two-three," Sides urged, seriously wanting me to spill the beans about accidently muttering those words.

I shake my head, telling him no. "I said your paint needs a waxing." God, please strike me with lightning and send me to fucking Hell. At this moment, I knew that I was signing my death warrant and saying goodbye to all my loved ones.

My seatbelt tightened even more, fitting in between my breasts and almost cutting into my skin. "And that will be your job when I finish fragging you during our sparring match," he huskily said, his voice sounding like a god in that moment. The only problem is: what does fragging mean? And something told me I did not want to know as the context in the sentence told me enough.

"Sideswipe! I'm going to fragging tear you bolt from bolt!" Sunstreaker all but whispered to us. His voice literally rang in my ears and maybe some ear bleeding.

"OW! Hey! That's rude, it's not like you didn't have that thought on your processor," Sides whined like a two year old getting blamed for something he didn't do. He swerved for no reason the moment before he said 'ow' and I had no idea what hurt him and why he did that.

"I did not!-" it was time for me to cut and not listen to these children bicker and fight over nothing.

"How about you both shut the Hell up before I ask Ratchet to do for me? He would love for a reason to do that," I threatened, nearly slamming my hands on Sides steering wheel. Both of the brothers quieted down, not daring to say a word after my outburst. "You're worse than my brother and I when we younger."

They stayed silent, until they heard me give detail about my only living family member. "You have a brother? Can we meet him? Why haven't we met him yet? Are you guys twins like us? What does he look like?" Sides threw out question after question, not giving me chance to answer.

"Yes, I do have a brother and he lives in Nashville, living out his dream of becoming a famous musician. And no, you cannot meet him. He would most likely kill you all for being this close to me," I explained, sounding monotone. It was true; my brother is very protective of me being around males due to going through the same thing with me.

After dealing with that situation, we finally made it to where the humans usual spar with each other. Thankfully for us, Ironhide was not working with the humans on sparring with each other today, giving us the place alone. Alone with no help against the frontliners; alone with males; alone with much stronger males then me; and that didn't make me worry as much as it should have.

The butterfly door slid upwards, towards the sky and allowing me to step out of the absolutely beautiful red Lamborghini, which I did. The two didn't transform, instead let their holoforms appear in front of their alt. modes and followed me to the mats.

They were covered by tarps to keep them from being pelted on by the sun or have dirt get collected on them. I pulled off the nearest one, dirt went flying everywhere and causing me to sneeze which is sounds like a kitten or mouse. This catches the attention of the holoforms and they give me a confused look. "You okay, Brey?" Sides question, concerned about my well-being.

Once the dust settled, I nodded my head and held in another sneeze. "Yeah, I hate sneezing. I sound like a fucking mouse," I nearly growled and folded up the tarp nicely. Sides came up to me, wrapped his arms around my upper chest, and hugged me tightly.

"Aww, but it's so cute! Just like you," then he booped my nose and used his brain to run off to a somewhat safe distance away.

"You better watch it or I'm going to shove my foot so far up your ass, you're going to taste it in your mouth," I threatened, a glint in my eyes and body ready to pounce. He only laughed, teasing me about how 'cute' and 'adorable' I am. I decided against chasing him down and wasting my energy on something futile unlike this spar.

We decided Sides was the only one going against me as two frontliners against a beefed up Game Warden wasn't going to work. Sides's holoform stood across from me, tip of his toe on the line, me in the same position like him but in a lower stance.

My first move was to play defense and watch for any weaknesses. Until finding one, I will be forced to keep my own against the taller holoform and hopefully not waste a bunch of energy. It was a surprise the red streaked mech lunged at me once Sunstreaker counted down to one.

Sides tackles me football style and pinned me against the not-so-soft mat, hands locked up above my head. His hips straddled mine, his pelvis was above mine and I could feel his member. Ratchet actually made them with dicks? What the fuck Doc?

Instead of allowing him to win within seconds, I was able to wiggle my legs from his hold and shove them against his chest. He was sent almost flying backwards as we both scrambled to our feet, circling each other and waiting for the right moment to attack.

It was bad mistake on his end, he shifted his position and gave me the perfect opportunity to do a sweep and snatch his right leg. He tried to yank his legs from my strong grip, main word: tried. I used my other hand to push his knee the other way, forcing him to turn and face the other direction.

For him to not fall on his face, he got on his hands and feet to balance out. I kicked the back of his knee hard, making him get on his knee this time and jumping behind him. The hold on his leg was still useful and I used it to my advantage by pulling his other leg from underneath him with my left leg. He still fought on, attempting to psuh himself up by his arms until I let go of his leg and pulled his arms out.

He fell face first into the mat and quietly groaned from my one-hundred and eighty pound body of fat landed on him. I swiveled like a helicopter (the move is called helicopter) and pushed against his side with my chest. This forced him to roll over onto his back and I used my weight against him to hold him there.

Time was called and in the end I was the winner meaning, quoting Sunny here, 'whatever I want'. I was breathing slight hard from the quick work of pinning Sides. "So… what was that about you winning?" I teased and gently nudged my shoulder against his bicep being a little too short to meet his shoulder.

Literally two seconds later, I was on the ground and pinned against the mat, out of breath from being nearly slammed into the mat. Sides was above me, in the same position when he lunged at me but with his forehead pressed against mine. I didn't really like this position we were in and how he was in almost full control over me.

From the right of me, I heard loud barking and growling coming from of Sunstreaker's alt. mode. Sunstreaker was quick to quiet them down, leaving me with Sides.

My blood pressure was rising with him pinning me against the mat and with his face so close to mine. His nose was lightly touching mine and his eyes staring deeply into mine. "C-could yo-you please get off of me?" My voice shaking in fear of what he was going. Sides recognized the fright evident in my eyes and backed off fully.

He gives me a helping hand up and stepped a couple feet away from me, thankfully giving me space to myself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to over step my boundaries," he apologizes and kept his gaze down at the ground. His brother gave him a good smack on the back of Sides's head and glared at him.

"It's fine, I just don't well with close contact of males," I explained, giving barely any details of why for the reason. They seemed to know not to push any further and lead me over to their forms.

For the rest of the quiet and peaceful day, we hung out and played a few video games (me losing most of the time). Once it was time for me to go back to my room, I took the dogs with me and fell asleep quickly. Lucky for me.


	16. Chapter 16: Ice Cream and Nightmares

"With the Cons calming down and are going quiet, I will allow for you to go back to your house," Will allowed with a hint of nervousness evident in his voice. That doesn't sound good; usually when the bad guys go quiet all of a sudden, it means they are preparing for something big. Or that's what happens in the movie and we all know all that isn't true.

"Yes! Finally!" I turned to Ironhide who is with us in the main hangar, "you owe me that free trip to Baskin n' Robins. Better pay up now or I'll annoy you until you take me." Ironhide had his arms crossed over his chest, listening to our conversation and grunted to acknowledge me. Then he transformed into his alt. mode, passenger side door open for me with the tailgate down for the dogs to jump up.

When his tailgate dropped, the dogs, who were with us at the moment, hopped up from their laid down position. They rushed over to the back of Ironhides alt. mode; Kodiak was able to jump on his own while Vivian placed her front paws on the edge, waiting for me to help her up. She has tried before to get up in mine but sadly failed and learned she can't get up that way.

Vivian whimpered for me to help her and gave her pathetic puppy eyes in my direction. Sighing deeply and shaking my head with a small smile on my face, I strolled over to where she is and helped her in the back. I close his tailgate carefully and hop in the front passenger seat reserved for me.

The seatbelt slithered over me and clicked into place, securing me safely inside of Ironhide's alt. mode. He closes the door like a gentleman-er mech with the window rolled down; Lennox walks over and gives Ironhide's holoform (Ian) a pointed look. "Any sign of Cons, get here back here immediately. I mean it Hide, sh-," Will lectured but was interrupted by Ironhide.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Could we go now? I need to get back before training starts." Will hesitantly nodded his head and stepped back, allowing us to leave. We thought it was going to be the two of us until a pair of Lamborghinis pulled up behind us.

The air around me hardens and it was coming from Ironhide, he most likely didn't want them to come with us. "What do you think you two are doing?" He didn't sound happy at all and the tone of voice expressed that.

"Whoa, Hide. Sounds like you got a rusted pipe up your aft," Sides teased; that didn't settle well with Ironhide as his engine revved deeply like a growl. "We are Brey's guardians by Boss Bots orders and have to be with her at all times." I don't think that how guardianship works but rather not argue with thirty foot tall sentient robots.

"I have it covered. Now get before I shove one of my cannons up your aft," Ironhide threatened.

"Wait, Ironhide. Just let them come with us. I'll keep them in order if they start to act up," I proposed, setting a hand on his and giving him the famous puppy eyes Vivi like to give me.

Conflict could be seen inside of his eyes and a sigh left his mouth. "Fine but if they annoy me once, I get to kick their afts into the next deca-cycle."

"I don't think that Will would like that very much but sure. Though don't reel me into the trouble if you get busted by him." After our disagreement was settled, Ironhide took off with the Terror Twins following us to Baskin Robins.

It was a quick trip to Baskin Robins and Ironhide makes me hurry up so he could get back for training. Those poor, poor soldiers dealing with Ironhide does not seem like they have a good time with him.

At Baskin Robins, I got Birthday cake and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough and Ian pays for every cents. Don't know where he got the money or debt card to do that but not going to question that as I get free dessert out of it. "Hey, Hide. Why don't you head back to the base and we can take her back home?" Sides offered.

Sides didn't want to be left outside so he dragged his brother with him inside and followed the two of us. Ironhide wasn't happy about them following us and it took some great wording from me to calm him down and get on buying my dessert.

The weapon specialist's holoform glared at the red twin. "I don't know why Will allowed you two to be her guardian. As if I would allow you two to escort her home," Ian scoffed, leaning back in the metal chair (we are sitting outside while I eat the rest of my ice cream) and crossed his arms over his chest.

When he mentioned Sideswipe and Sunstreaker being allowed to be my guardian, I shied away and kept my gaze down at the ground. "You didn't hear, Brey pick us to her guardian," Sides faked being surprised and loudly gasped, putting a great show on.

Ian snapped his head in my direction and his eyes widen in shock. "Please tell me he lying." I shrunk back behind my cup of ice cream and didn't make eye contact with him. "Why in Primus's sake would you pick these two pit spawns?"

A scared smile was pushed onto my face and I finally found his eyes. "W-well, it's uhhh, I… I-it was the only name one the paper I knew. He didn't seem that bad when I first met him," I stuttered while playing with my hands nervously and tore my gaze away from him.

Disappointment was rolling off of him in waves and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head. "Anyway, come on, Hide. Please, we'll even take the dogs off your servos," Sides begged with hopefulness in his eyes. His brother slightly perked up at the mention of dogs; he must really have taken a liking towards Vivi.

He grunted, arms still crossed over his chest and glare pointed towards the two of them. "Whatever, make sure she gets home safe and sound. Will would have my aft if anything happened to her." Ian lowers the tailgate and both dogs come rushing towards us. He grabs my bag from the back and sets it down next to me.

"Lay down." I ordered, voice firm so they could understand this was a command. They both listen to my command and lay down on the sidewalk. "Thank you Ironhide!" He gives me a wave before taking off and leaving me with the Terror Twins.

Sides takes the new empty spot next to me and places his arm over the back of my chair. "How's your ice cream going?" he attempts to make a conversation with me.

"Pretty good, haven't had ice cream in forever. Wait, could your holoform process human food?" I question, hopefully of wanting him to try ice cream. He gazes over to his brother who was paying no attention to us and gazing out at the tree line on the other side of the trees

"I think Ratchet told us we could. It would be transferred into energy but not enough to keep us online," Side explained to the best of his knowledge. That gave me an idea; I got up, grabbed a spoon from inside, and rushed back to my spot. "What's got you runn-mpf!" I stuffed a spoon of birthday cake flavored ice cream in his mouth mid-sentence.

His hand wraps around mine and we stared into each other eyes for a few seconds. Then a wave realization and embarrassment came to mind and I attempted to retract my hand from his grasp. Sides realizes that I wanted him to let go and releases my hand. "So-sorry, I sh-should've asked," I apologized; a blush was covering my entire face.

A soft smile appeared on his face and he gently grabbed my hand. "Don't be sorry. It tasted really good; nothing that I have ever tasted before. Next time we are out and about, we'll stop here," Sides offered then released my hand again, feeling the slight tense of my muscles.

"That sounds great. What do you think Sunstreaker?" I included the quiet mech into the conversation and gave him a smile in his direction. There was a small glare thrown my way but it disappeared a few moments later.

Sunstreaker shrugged his shoulders and kept his gaze away from us. "Whatever," was his only response then he got up and returned to his alt. mode. His brother gave me apologetic look before grabbing my trash and throwing it away for me. I thanked him for the kind gesture and followed him with my bag in hand to his alt. mode.

The dogs followed me until Vivi ran over to the passenger side of Sunstreaker and did her bitch bark. The butterfly door opened on its own and Vivian jumped up into the black leather seats. It closed, locking her inside of the vehicle safely.

Kodiak was put in the back of the red Lamborghini and wasn't happy his sister wasn't with him. He got over it when both of the windows rolled down and he was able to slightly stick his head out of them. Sides and Sunstreaker took off in the direction of my house quickly; I was beyond happy and ready to be back home.

Once they pulled up to my three car garage, I finally noticed the storm clouds rolling in from the east. "It's going to rain tonight, you guys can park inside of the garage if you want," I offered, putting in the code so the large garage door would open.

It wasn't surprising when Sunstreaker immediately pulled in when the door was only halfway open. Sides waited until it was fully up and pulled in next to his brother. They let out the dogs and their holoforms appeared; Sides grabbed my duffle bag from inside his alt. mode and followed me inside of my house.

"Come on bubbas, dinner time," I called to the dogs and pressed the button to close the garage door. I opened the door that leads to the inside of my house and both of the dogs rushed passed me to where their empty bowls are.

Since the stay at the base wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be, there was still a plastic bag of dog food still full. I used that to fill their bowls and also filled their second bowl of water. Right after finishing with the dogs, my phone began to ringing and the caller ID read Zeke. I accept the called and put the phone up to my ear. "What did you get yourself in to trouble this time?" I teased.

Zeke scoffs over the phone. "That's mean Lambert. I was only calling because Lennox told me you're back home. I would come over but Dom and I are working overtime. Hope you had a fun stay at the base," explained Zeke.

"Overtime, that's everyday of a Warden's life. But yeah, I did have a fun stay. I lost a few bets but was able to Baskin Robins in the end," I recalled my time at the secret base.

"You didn't lose any bets, you learned from those bets." Ah, the saying my old wrestling coach would tell me; you win or you learn from your mistakes. There isn't any losing in wrestling.

We talked for a while until Dom interrupted our conversation. It was pretty much the same thing from him and got caught up on a few things between us.

The twins were in the living room, messing around on the T.V and attempting to pick a show to watch that they both wanted to watch. It wasn't going as smooth as you think; they were arguing between each other and wrestled for the remote.

When it slipped from their hands, I grabbed it, picked the show I wanted to watch, and got settled on the nearest couch. Sides's mouth opened with betrayal in his eyes and he pouted on the ground. The yellow twin on the other hand slightly glared in my direction then got up from the ground and sat down on the other couch.

It was quiet watching North Woods Law. All together, we watched that until tiredness took over me and I fell asleep on the couch in that spot.

Sadly, all good things come to an end as a nightmare of my dear brother decided to appear inside of my mind. It was a Con chasing after him, Jerms was losing ground quickly to the giant robot behind him. I was watching from above, unable to do anything to protect or save him.

It was a matter of time before the Con got a hold of him, laughing sinisterly at Jerms misfortune of getting caught. Then started to pull him limb from limb, including his head from his shoulders. I scream and cried, attempting to get to my dead brother. "Aubrey, wake up. For Primus' sake!" A masculine voice called out from within my dream.

I snapped my eyes open and was greeted by the worried face of Sunstreaker. Without another moment, I wrapped my arms around his mid-section and squeezed him tightly. Tears were running down my face as the dream slowly faded away from my mind. "Aubrey, let go," Sunstreaker ordered and tried to push me off of him.

No matter how hard he pushed me to get me off of him, he failed. The lock I had on him was impossible to break and Sunstreaker would never be able to get me off of him. "What is it?" he grunted, annoyed about being in the position he is in.

The nightmare, and my brother was in trouble, but why was he? "My… my brother was, was in trouble by a…" I raked my mind for why he was in danger. The Con! "Jerms was being chased by a Con…. And I couldn't do anything…. And, and the Con tore him apart," I recalled the memory, still fuzzy about the details.

Shit! I need to call him and make sure he's alright but at the same time, I don't want to let go of Sunstreaker. "A Con was chasing your brother?" A nod to confirm his read back. "And this Con tore him a part?" Another nod. "While all this was happening, you couldn't do anything?" The last nod. "It was just a night terror, just go back to recharge."

"I know it was just a nightmare but it felt so real, and… and we haven't talked in a while. We've both been extremely busy with our careers," I excused the reason why I haven't called Jeremy for the past couple of years.

Sunstreaker cuffed me over the head, catching me off guard. "In the morning, call him. Now go recharge," he ordered and attempted to pry me from around his waist. I was holding on tightly and he couldn't get me off so he took a seat next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I slowly fell back to sleep in the safety of Sunstreaker's arms.

**So things have changed for the road trip I was talking about. I'm not going since my family realized we wouldn't be able to do anything while there; its in Cali which has a mask thing for everywhere. But I know we're going to go somewhere else, though we haven't planned where. We are thinking of going to our cabin for a week which means no internet. If that happens , then I'll just plan on posting two chapters beforehand. I apologize for this confusion. Next chapter, I'll hopefully have everything settled. I'll keep you guys posted if things drastically change.**


	17. Chapter 17: Duty

A cold, wet nose pressed against my leg and woke me up from my lovely sleep. I immediately noticed the warm body to my left and a limp arm lazily resting on my back. "Hey, leave her alone. You're going to wake her," a voice that I recognized as Sunstreaker muttered to someone. I snapped open my eyes and reeled back from Sunstreaker's warm body.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment and I stood up from the couch to get away from him. "I am so so sorry!" I apologized and covered my face with my hands. Both of my dogs ran up to me excitedly, obviously to what was happening. I push them away and started to walk away to get ready for work.

"Aubrey," he called out and sounded like he was getting off the couch. I stopped in my tracks but didn't face him, too afraid of him pointing out that I was literally using him as pillow. Sunstreaker stood in front of me yet didn't touch me, most likely to the fact he doesn't like human interaction. "Make sure to call your brother."

With that said, his holoform disappeared in front of me which scared me. I released a big sigh before heading up stairs to my room. Kodiak and Vivian followed me, happily without a care to the world. I get dressed quickly in my uniform and headed down stairs for a hopefully boring day; rather have an uneventful day then a chaotic.

"My god! I slept with my arms around him. Why didn't he tell me to fuck off or get away? He seems like one to do that," I mumbled to myself before putting the dogs in their kennels and entering the garage.

Both of the beautiful Lambos sat there silently and unmoving, until Sides started his engine suddenly. This almost scared the shit out of me and caused me to grab at my gun. "You motherfucker! You are so lucky I didn't shoot your pretty little hood."

Sides's holoform appeared next to his alt. mode and was laughing his butt off. "You should have seen your face!" he cackled and attempted to calm down his laughter. I glared deeply at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Shut it," I growled, not too pleased about him scaring me and slammed my fist on the garage opener. The garage noisily rolled up so both of the super cars could exit. "Get out now." His demeanor changed by him stops laughing and gave me a look of betrayal.

"But-but why?" he cried and rushed over to me.

"I don't know… because you scared me! Now get, your brother can stay but you get to leave," I sarcastically said and headed towards my work truck. Whichever dog woke me up was in time, gladly.

He followed me to my truck while gripping on to my arm. "I'm sorry, please don't kick me out," Sides begged. I put on a thinking face on as if I was giving it a thought before telling him 'no' and hopping into my truck.

Right as I was about to start up my truck and leave for work, my phone begun to ring. The caller ID read Sarah as I picked it up and a small amount of worry bubbled in my stomach. "Yellow?" I answered my phone and waited for a response.

"Hey, Brey. I have a small favor to ask of you," Sarah responded. I started up my truck and put on my seatbelt for safety.

"Ask away."

"Could you take Anna to school today? Most of the bots are busy and I don't trust any of the twins," she questioned.

"Yeah, I'll start heading your way. You're lucky I was about to head to work," I accepted and began my way towards the Lennox's house. "Wait, what about your car?" Almost forgot she had that thing.

"Oh, thank you so much! Dead battery, and Wheeljack took the jumper cables and never gave it back," she answered. Well that's a bit mean, never giving back something that's not yours. I pulled up next to her car and honked, notifying her I was here. The honk echoed between the phones, making both of hang up.

Sarah walked out while holding onto Anna's hand who wanted to take off faster than a space ship. Somehow, someway, Anna was able to get out Sarah's hold and rushed over to the passenger side door and opened it. "Hi, Aunty!" she greeted and sat down next to me in the passenger seat.

"Thanks for taking her to school for me," Sarah thanked me and came up to my open driver side window.

"Of course, anytime you need me. I am an officer of the law and here to protect and serve," I joked and put the truck back into drive. "I got to get going though so I can get her to school and start my shift."

"Okay, be safe out there, please," she pleaded but there was nothing I could do to ensure my safety and return home. I nodded my head, rolled up the window, and took off to the road.

"So how are your boyfriends?" Anna asked all of a sudden. Her sentence surprised me and nearly made me serve, gladly my training me not to do that. Anna must be talking about the two following us, my guardians who are unneeded in my opinion.

"My, my boyfriends? We… we aren't together. We're only friends/guardians. Your father appointed them to me," I explained and attempted to cool my burning face. They are nice (including Sunstreaker for last night), funny, and handsome but they're alien robots from space; and as if they would ever go with me: a boring human that follows the laws.

Anna giggled, not believing the truth. "I see the way you look at them and how they look at you. I may be seven but I can what's going on between you two." I shake my head and stayed silent, wanting to get her to school quickly. "I'm going to take your silence as a you do like them."

It was best not to argue with her or it could escalate so I kept my mouth shut. "Sides and Brey and Sunny sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g," Anna sang the whole way until I dropped her off for school. She waved at the two Lamborghinis following me before heading towards the front of the newer school. I leaned my head against the wheel of my truck and released a sigh. This is going to be a long day…

I picked up my radio and pressed the button to call through to dispatch, taking a second for the beep to sound. "Dispatch, Wildlife 104, starting her shift," I stated and released the button. One of our dispatchers gave me a 'copy' and with that, I started a hopefully boring day.

But that's not how my day went. I was called to another weird called, this time I knew what had happened at the scene and would have to cover it up for Will instead of exposing it.

When arriving at the crime scene, I thought this was going to be a quick case to close in matter of days like the others. Oh no, the gods don't like me having an easy day or job. It was located on a somewhat busy road where many cars were destroyed with the mixture of the blue substance and gas.

Officers of the nearby city were blocking off the scene so no news people were trying to get a shot of what happened. I hopped out of my truck and strolled up to the scene, being followed by the Terror Twins. A once over of the area told me there was at least three body counts so far. "What in hell happened here?" I mumbled underneath my breath.

"Cons. Lennox will try to get you put in charge of the case but they're fighting him," Sides answered for me and stopped next to me.

"I was a lucky one, then," I joked, the next second knowing it wasn't smart. An officer, by the looks of it a rookie, marched up to me with the hint of nervousness.

"Yeah, you were," Sunstreaker replied and straightened his back when the officer stopped in front of me.

"Officer Lambert, Sergeant Tipps wants to talk to you," Officer Crane stated and pointed off to where my sergeant and a few others were talking. I thanked him quickly before speed walking over to her and stopping in front of her.

"I was called?" I questioned after making my presences known.

Sergeant Tipps dipped her head to confirm my question. "Yes, you're 'friend' Will is going to great lengths to get you on the case. But with the many cases on your hands and hunting and fishing season going into full blast, you will not be taking the case. One of the officers from the city will be. I will tell them if they need assistance to go to you."

"Alright, am I needed here anymore?" I inquired and kept my posture straight with my face void of emotions.

She shook her head. "No, now get back to patrol." It may have seemed rude to anyone on the outside but I could hear the playfulness in her voice. I nodded my head before heading back to my truck.

"She's just like Prowler," Sides commented and received an elbow to the stomach from me. "Hey! Why did I get that?" I shook my head and kept quiet until reaching my truck and hopping in.

"You don't talk badly about my sergeant. She's nicer then you see. She's acts tough while out on the job due to training but outside of work, we have an absolute blast. 'Don't judge a book by its cover'," I quoted and started up my truck. "Get back to your c- yourself and continue being my guardian."

Sides being the child he is, stuck his tongue out at me and began to pout. "You're not the boss of me," he sulked while staying in place.

"And I can handcuff you in less than five seconds. Let's see who the boss is here," I playfully growled and prepared myself to follow through with my threat.

A playful smirk grew on his lips and he uncrossed his arms. "I would like to use those handcuffs on you," he teased. Sunstreaker finally butted in by smacking his brother with the back of his hand. "Hey! As if you weren't thinking it too."

Embarrassment spread between the two of us, aka victims, and I slinked back further in to my truck to be out of sight. Sunstreaker turned away from us with his cheeks the slightest rosy and literally marched over to his alt. mode. "And you missy, wouldn't mind it. I know it; I can see it in your eyes." I'm about to punch this man in his handsome face.

"Shut it before I make you and that's not meant to be sexual!" I nearly screamed before rolling my window back up and began pulling out onto the road. The three of us started our way back on the road, me leading the way to the nearest water way to check fishing licenses.

It was pretty busy at the lake today with people taking their children out for fishing. Hopefully they're teaching them the proper ways of fishing, aka having a fishing license (when you need one), the limit of fishing, and the size of fish you can keep.

The three of us were causally walking down the path to the lake when Sides decided to take off running ahead of us. I sighed with my patience stretching thin before chasing after him doing a light jog. His presences might alert everyone else that an officer of the law was coming. "Does he always act like this?" I questioned to Sunstreaker who was keeping up with me.

"More than you know," he sighed but the hint of a smirk could be seen on his lips. Sunstreaker's first impression on how he feels about his brother told me he was sometimes done with his attitude; now it told me loved him either way. Brotherly love.

When we broke past the tree line where everyone was fishing, Sides was standing at the entrance with a huge smile on his lips. "Beat you! I thought cops were supposed to be fast," Sides teased me when the two of us strolled up to him.

"I didn't know it was a race and when chasing a suspect, you don't want to run out all of your energy," I explained and had him walk with me to the nearest person fishing. "Hello, how's the fishing today? And could I see your fishing licenses." The three men in front of smiled back at me.

"Good, officer. How's your day going?" the one with a navy blue shirt replied and grabbed his wallet from his shorts pocket. His other buddies also dug for their licenses, hopefully they all have theirs. "Here you go." He handed it to me and his buddies did the same. I checked over them, making sure they were valid; they were.

"Okay, thanks. Have a great rest of your day." Then I handed back their fishing licenses and headed to check everyone else at the lake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a group of four packing up their stuff quickly and making a not-so-sneaky exit. This set off a red flag for me and gave chase after them. "Hey, you four, stop!" I ordered and swiftly caught up to them. "Set down your stuff and give me your licenses."

They gladly listened to my orders and did what they were told. "Now, will one of you tell me what the rush to get out of here was?" My voice meant I wasn't pleased of having to chase them down. They all seemed nervous like they had something on them.

That's when my nose caught the scent of pot on one of them. Why would you bring your pot on you down here with children? When all of them gave me their ID's, I decided to bring up the smell. "Okay, who has the pot on them?" Worry on two of their faces only grew and the two male parties tried to hide it.

"Connor! You better not have smoked any," the blonde female hissed to the newly named brown haired boy. Connor dipped his head in shame and kept his gaze down at the ground. "I cannot believe you! You said you were done with that shit." Oh, she didn't sound happy.

"Kate, please go stand by my partner with the red hair," I ordered and separating them to keep them from fighting. Kate glared at the man once more before stomping over to Sides and waited there for me to finish here. "Okay, so I'm guessing you smoke and either have some on you or smoked some earlier."

"I… I have about a gram and pipe on me," he mumbled and dropped his shoulders.

"Thank you for telling me, I can work with you on that. All you'll be given is a citation of having under 40 grams of marihuana which is only a misdemeanor. I'll have to take both of those and you'll be released," I explained. "Anyone else have anything on them that needs to tell me?" No one spoke up but that still didn't mean I wasn't going to search them.

"Let's go back to my truck and I get you your papers and you'll be on your way." All of them nodded their heads and we were on our way to my truck. Sides was keeping an eye on Kate for since she didn't look pleased about Connor.

We made to my truck in one piece and I started getting his papers signed. "Okay, I want you to sign on this line. It's not saying you're are pleading guilty to being in procession of the pot but that you'll appear in court." Connor signed on the line for me and handed over the pot and pipe.

"Lastly, I need to search everyone to see if they have anything else on them. This is your last chance to tell me if you have anything and I'll go easy on you." No one spoke up and I began to search all them. None of them had anything on them, gladly; they were given their ID's back and sent on their way. Great this meant I had to head to the department and give them the stuff.

An idea came to mind while sitting in my truck filing away the papers. I switched my radio to channel four in hopes that someone nearby would be listening to it. "Wildlife 104, I'm at Wilson Lake and finished with a report of someone having pot. Anyone willing to take the pot and pipe back to the department for me?"

It was a few moments later when a response came over the radio. "Jay 34, Wildlife 104, yeah, I can pick up for you. I'm heading there anyway."

"Okay, I'm at the south end of the lake." Gotta love channel four when in need of a transport. Sides cheered after hearing my call since he is a very impatient being. "Shut it, if you don't want to be here then ask Will to switch roles." I don't why those words came from my mouth, they keep me great company and usually stay out of my way.

This deflated his hyperness and Sides shrunk down a bit with a pout on his face. "But-but we like being with you! And I was just kidding." I gave him a pointed looked and sighed deeply while rubbing my eyes; after dealing with this morning a tiny bit and not getting great sleep, it has been tiring for me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so rude. It has been long day and I'm tired," I excused myself and leaned against the door of my truck. It was closed with the window down so I could speak to Sides and Sunstreaker.

Sides swiped his hand in front of him as if he was waving away my excuse. "It's alright, we understand, right my lovely brother?" Sunstreaker snapped his head in the direction of his twin and glared deeply at him.

The two bickered about this and that even when the officer to pick up my stuff came. I handed over the pot and pipe to Officer James; we made small talk before he went on his way to drop it off for me. The twins hopped back in their alt. modes so I could continue my shift.

For the rest of the day, it was boring; I sat on the side of the road, watching over people making their way through. At the end of my shift, we headed to my house and pulled up to it. I allowed them to park in the garage again even though it didn't seem like it was going to rain.

Since it felt like a long, tiring day, I stripped down my clothes, put on baggy clothes, and headed down stairs to the couch. The twins were on the couch, watching Counting Kustoms and on the love seat with each other. I laid down on the long couch on my stomach, crossed my arms, and rest my head on them.

The show was okay, sometimes on the cars, they would do these stupid looks for them and make them look ridiculous. But when they showed a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner, I sat up immediately and gave my full attention to the screen. "You like what you see?"

"Well duh, it's a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. They're perfect for a long trips and their style is beautiful. I wish they still made them but they were discontinued in 2001," I stated and watched the mechanics pull the car apart to fix some rusting on the frame. This kind of job was going to be expense for what they are doing to it.

Sides, out of the corner of my eye, seemed surprise I knew these facts about this kind of car. In my garage, at this moment, there is a 1968 Plymouth Fury III, waiting for my brother to pick her up. "You know your cars then."

"Mhmm, I told you two about the reason I have my brother's Plymouth, right?" For the life of me, I couldn't remember is they knew about me fixing up my brother's car up.

Sunstreaker shook his head. "No, you haven't," he responded. This is where the story telling of the great memories I had in that car with my brother and what happened to it. Our talk continued to the point I literally passed out from exhaustion.


	18. Chapter 18: Sickness

**To those who read my author notes, I have some exciting news: my step mom's bio daughter just had a baby. His name is Liam and he is adorable. I felt slightly bad for her since she had him during this scary time and the dad was a dick so the daughter kicked him out of her life. **

The sun was still rising in the bright blue sky when we arrived at Zips. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning as I pulled my truck next to Ironhide's alt. mode. Sarah and Anna jump out while Hide stayed and I followed the two into Zips. Hopefully the dogs don't try anything stupid while we are gone.

Sarah and Anna are holding hands like a mother and daughter would do with me a step behind them. It has been a little bit chaotic this week for me after Will was attempting to get me to have the case from earlier this week; others was from dealing with people not being the brightest bulb in the pack.

All three of us walked up to the counter and ordered our food. Of course, I paid for our food which caused Sarah to argue about her wanting to pay, I didn't let that happen. Anna led us over to a booth for us to sit at.

Once we sat down, Sarah faced me with a knowing smile. "So, I have seen how you've been getting close with the Terror Twins," she teased and stuck a fry in her mouth. I hide my shock and embarrassment from her expertly and gave her a confused looked.

"Well, they are my guardians so I kind of have to be around them," I played the innocent card well. Sarah glared at me, not totally believing my story but I could see in her eyes she was contemplating it. "Though I wished I picked someone else, Sides can be annoying at times and Sunstreaker is always rude." The icing on the cake.

In the pit of my heart felt like it twisted from my words and guilt rose inside of me. "Oh, I thought that, you know, had some further relationship with them then guardians." I had to force the rude comment down my brain thought up from spilling.

"You know I don't believe in love and you know the reason why." I gave her a pointed look and took a sip from my drink. My past, especially my mother, had ruined the happy ended for me. Love is a fairy tale that will never be a thing for me.

"But love is good. It make you happy and fuzzy inside!" Anna interrupted us. I smiled sadly at the child before turning my gaze to my shiny, white truck parked outside. Hide was taller due to his heightened doors but from the front, mine looked to be the bigger one.

Powerstroke had all the right features to even out the truck; from the wheel flares to the brush guard, it wasn't over done. With thirty-five inch tires and black and silver rims while with a four inch lift kit. This was the perfect truck for me, like it was specially made just for me.

"Brey!" I snapped out of drooling over my truck and gazed at Sarah. "Even though they're different, they could be for you," Sarah offered kindly. I scowled at her in defense.

"Love is a fairy tale for me, I'm bad luck so it's not going to happen for me," I grounded out and immediately felt bad for my tone of voice. "I'm so-," Sarah cut me off.

"It's alright, that's what you think of love from your… past experiences but all I ask is to give it a try. If they dare hurt you, mentally or physically, then Hide over there will personally rip them apart." My eyes stared at the black GMC next to my truck with confusion in my eyes. Why would he even give a rat's ass about me?

"Why though, we barely know each other." Sarah smiled with a hidden emotion below it.

"Him and Will have only knew each for a few months but would defend each other with their lives. The Autobots care deeply about a being who is loyal to them, and you are the definition of loyalty. Even the other Bots would chew the Twins out if they hurt you." I knew too much about being loyal to the point it was toxic to myself but my mind wouldn't let me stop.

"I'm just some human that stuck my nose where it shouldn't have been. That also got Zeke and Dom in this mess too," I commented and ate the last bite to my burger.

"Things happen for a reason, Brey. Sometimes for the better and others for the worse. What do you think about meeting them?" Did she mean the Twins or the Autobots? Better to go with the Autobots to show that I'm not interested in the Twins at all.

"I wish I wasn't held against my will with bruised ribs by a Con and had a nice, calmer meeting with them. But I wouldn't trade it for the world, they're nice to me and beings who are good at heart or whatever they have," I answered truthfully.

"I knew you liked the Twins! They're good for and to you." Wait, what?! She thought I was talking about the Terror Twins.

"No-no-no-no-no, I was talking about the Autobots, not the Terror Twins," I hastily corrected her mistake. Sarah wasn't taking it though; she continued to believe that I was talking about the Twins.

While she was teasing me, her phone buzzed and alerted her she had a text message. Sarah glanced at it then to the trucks outside and waved solemnly. Hide flashed his lights twice before pulling out of the parking lot of Zips and drove away. "Cons are popping up and he's needed at the base. We'll be on our own for the rest of the day."

At least I drove my own truck here and won't have to ask Zeke or Dom to pick us up. "After we're done here let's go to the dog park, the puppers need to run," I offered and sucked up the last of my drink.

"Doggies!" Anna cheered happily and bounced in her seat. "Can we go now? See, I done with food." She pointed down at her paper bag meant as a plate.

"Sure let's go. We need to be careful though, Hide warned us about the Cons." We stood up from the booth, grabbed all of our garbage, and headed out the door.

Gladly in the back of my truck is a booster seat that I forgot in there when I took Annabelle somewhere. Sarah buckled her up for me and the two of us hopped in the front. If she ever needed to, Sarah had the right to drive my truck in case of an emergency if her car didn't want to work.

I pulled up to the fence of the dog park as the dogs in the bed of the truck yipped excitedly; they knew where we were. Once I lowered the tailgate so the two can jump down, they were, within a couple of seconds, by the gate, waiting to be let in. Sarah let the two in past the double door and led the three of us to a bench higher up the small hill.

"To continue our conversation from before, what do you like about the Twins?" Sarah continued to tease me. I rolled my eyes and kept my mouth shut, saying something would make the situation worse than it already is.

"What about their paint jobs? Sunstreaker likes to keep his clean and pristine and I bet the inside of his alt. mode smells amazing-."

"Could you please stop? I don't like them the way you think I do, they're only my guardians for however long they can put up with me," I interrupted her and observed the dogs playing with the others.

"Are you embarrassed? And what do you mean by that? You're not a troublemaker or neither do you annoy them."

"I follow the rules since I'm an officer of the law, they don't. We're complete opposites and before you say opposites attract, not us. I'm going to keep it professional between the three of us."

"You don't know that. Maybe they'll start following some of the rules just for you!" I rolled my eyes with a scoff and leaned back against the metal bench.

"Auntie, if you not do it for Mommy, could you try for me?" Anna had gotten off the bench and stood in between my legs with a pleading look: the puppy eyes. I tried my best to resist her adorableness but sorrowfully, I succumbed to her.

"Alright, alright, I'll give the two a chance." Anna jumped happily around the bench while chanting 'Auntie and Sunny and Sides sitting in a tree'. This caught the attention of some of the people around us. I wrapped my arms around her and stood up, taking her with me. "Quite, not everyone needs to hear that."

Anna giggled like a school girl and squirmed in my grasp, failing to get free. "Mommy! Auntie is being mean!" she cried after giving up and was laying limp in my arms.

"You'll be fine," Sarah cooed and didn't do anything to stop me.

After another fifteen to twenty minutes of us sitting at the bench, the dog's energy was almost gone. "Kodiak, Vivian!" I called and waited for them to coming panting over to me. I led the two to the tailgate and lifted Vivian up since she's too tired to get up there.

I close the back end and hop back into my truck before driving off with the five of us. On the drive home, my mind slow grew with fright at the thought of one of the Twins getting hurt if the Cons do decide to attack. It was only friendly worrying, that's all. Yet a part of me didn't believe that.

After dropping Sarah and Anna off, I parked my truck in front of my house and released the dogs to the yard. They followed me into the house and literally collapsed on the couches."You know you still need to have some dinner." This didn't even faze them at the word of dinner and they were already passed out.

My stomach gave a small, painful twist and I groaned in reaction, please don't be my period. It wasn't supposed to start until in a couple of days. My reaction to pain woke the dogs up from their dead of sleep of they came rushing over to me. Vivian was trying jump up on me while Kodiak was licking my hands and sniffing me.

"It's okay, bubbas'," I reassured them and made my way towards one of the couches in the living room. It was a quarter towards three and way too early for me to sleep or it would throw off my sleep schedule.

The dogs hop up on couch with me and Vivian laid on my stomach while Kodiak laid on my feet. The two of them occasionally licked at any skin they could reach with worry in their eyes.

Instead of laying there in the silence of my house, I turned on the TV to watch a rerun of Live PD. The show was entertaining to watch in my past time and even helped me in some cases on what to do. Except there is an officer on here that I don't care for, he always makes the situation bigger than it needs to be.

"Aubrey? Wake up!" a familiar voice ordered. I groaned from being woken up and sloppily pushed away the person. "I will have Hide drop you in the tub full of cold water." This caught my attention and forced me to sit up.

I immediately regretted that and nearly lost whatever was left in my stomach. "Jeez, Brey, you don't look so good," Will spoke up with worry in his voice.

"Well, I don't feel so good. Wait, where are the dogs?" I hastily got to my feet, ignoring the three people in my living room, and scanned the area around me. Gladly, my two family members were in their kennels and attempting to escape.

"We put them in there because they wouldn't let us near you. Kodiak bit Hide," Sarah explained why they weren't out and about. They're both extremely protective of me, specially Kodiak. What in the hell is going on? I felt sicker than a dog and my stomach was doing flips. "You two watch her and keep her on the couch, I'll be back."

Sarah left me to deal with these two. Will came up to me and gently pushed me down on the couch. I wanted to protest against him but my body didn't have the energy to fight him. "You're burning up! Hide, watch her, I'm going to get a cool, wet towel." Then Will left to the kitchen quickly and was searching around in the drawers.

Hide kneeled down in front of me and placed his large, calloused hand on my forehead. It was a bit cooler then the heat radiating from my forehead. "Will, should I com Ratchet? She's a bit warmer than a human should be," Hide called out to his partner in the kitchen.

"I would wait for Sarah to come back, she'll know what to do." Will came from the kitchen with a wet towel in his hand and pushed me back on the couch. The cold towel on my forehead felt good, sadly the towel quickly absorbed the heat.

My work phone in the kitchen started to ring. I attempted to get off the couch to answer it but Hide kept me down with a simple grip on my shoulder. "I'll get it, you stay here," Will ordered and rushed to the kitchen for my phone. "It's Zeke."

"Give," I ordered, my voice sounding worse than before. Will handed me my phone and I answered it. "'Yellow."

"Where are you?! Tipps says you aren't patrolling," Zeke questioned and sounded anxious. It was unlike me to not call in and miss work without telling at least Tipps.

"Home. I'm not feeling well but once Sarah gets back with some meds, I'll be out," I answered surely of myself.

"Oh no, you won't be," Sarah interrupted by coming through the front door. "You need to sleep this off and you're going to take the day off." I shook my head and tried once more to get off the couch against my better judgment. Tipps wouldn't want me to take even more time off then I already have.

"I can't, Tipps-" Sarah interrupted me again.

"Will understand. Now, I have some soup on the stove so I can't stay long. I came back over to make sure they were keeping you from getting up. Since everything is fine, I'll head back."

"Wait, do you think we should have Ratchet come check her out?" Hide spoke up while still kneeling in front of me.

"Yes, I would just to be safe." With that, Sarah said her goodbyes and left me once more to lie on the warming couch.

"You just got told," Zeke teased and drew me back to the fact he was still on the phone. "So, I'll tell Tipps you won't be coming in today." I rolled my eyes and hung up on him. Zeke did call back but I ignored him and groaned painfully when my stomach twisted again.

It was later in the day when my front door opened to reveal the holoform of the Autobot's medic. "Why did you have to show up?" I groaned and threw my arm over my eyes. From what Will and Epps have told me about him, he is exceedingly about health, especially for us humans.

"You're just as bad as Jazz about your health. If you humans didn't get sick so easily then you wouldn't have to worry about that." I glared at the grayed hair medic and sat up with my back resting against the back of the couch. My head felt like it was spinning inside of a washing machine.

Ratchet came over with a tool box of sorts and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch. A weird buzz feeling went through my body and caused me to shiver. Bile rose in the back of my throat and I instinctly placed my hand over my mouth. "Don't you dare."

Instead of puking, I burped and cringed at the horrible taste that it brought up. "I'm trying my best not to." Ratchet glared at me and pushed me down to lay on the couch. I didn't fight him due to the fact that my body felt like jello.

"It seems like you have the stomach flu. I'll get you some antibiotics to help fight it. But you aren't going to work for the next couple of days." I opened my mouth to argue with him and he raised his hand to silence me. "Nuh-uh, if I have to have the Twins here to keep you resting, I will. At least once they get back."

This caught my attention. "What do you mean by 'at least once they get back'?" I knew they weren't here at my house but thought they were at the base with Hide. But Hide was here earlier in the day… where are they?

"Optimus sent them out to a sighting of some Decepticons. They're coming in tomorrow if everything goes alright," he answered while standing up and taking his toolbox with him. This sparked worry inside of my head at the thought of Cons hurting them. My eyes widened at thought of me being concerned for them.

Stop it, Aubrey, they're your guardians, nothing more. As if they would like a human like myself. Sunstreaker despises my kind with a passion and they're aliens, it would never work out. But their holoforms are good loo-. "Aubrey? Everything alright?" Ratchet broke me out of my thinking.

"Uh, yeah, just not feeling the greatest, you know," I lied straight through my teeth. The medic easily took my lie as truth and left me to my own devices. Until he comes back to give some huge as antibiotics for me to take. My one thing about medicine, I hate taking pills.

I stood up with my vision swimming and stumbled over to the dogs kennel's. They rushed out of their kennels the moment they were released and jumped and sniffed me, concerned about my wellbeing. "It's going to be okay, bubba's. I'm a bit sick at the moment," I spoke to them as if they were humans.

That wasn't from being sick, I did that on a daily basis's since there were no other humans in my house; just the way I like it.

It was time to feed them and in my state it was going to be hard. I dragged my feet into the kitchen and filled both their food and water bowls before sitting down in the kitchen floor. "Aubrey? Where are you?" Zeke suddenly called from the front of my house. "Where is she?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Dominick argued. "The dogs are out so she is here. You check up stairs and I'll check the rest of the house. It's not that big of a house." Zeke's footsteps going up the stairs could heard from my position on the floor.

Dominick's large frame appeared in the doorframe of the kitchen and he rushed over to me. "Brey? Brey? Can you hear me? Please don't be dead." I lazily gazed up at him and gave him a lovely weak middle finger to the face. "Thank the Lord. Why in the hell are you on the floor?"

"I'm hot and the floor is cool plus I'm tired," I groaned and rested my head against his thick bicep. "You a good pillow." I wrapped my weak arms around his abandon and snuggled up to the warm giant.

"You are really out of it. Up you go." Dom picked me up bridle style and carried me up the stair to my room. Zeke was in there and had his hands running through his hair. "Found her." The dirty blonde whipped around to face us and rushed up to me.

"Where was she?" Zeke took my head into his hands and turned me to fully look at him.

"On the kitchen floor. She's really out of it though." Dom set me down on my queen bed and tucked me underneath the comforters. Within a second it was already too hot and I kicked off the blanket.

"Did she look like she fell?"

"No, her back was resting against the cabinets like she sat down purposely." Zeke nodded his head and turned his sight back on me. "Let me go talk to Cross and see if he can Ratchet to check her out." Ratchet had already checked me out and said he was going to get some antibiotics.

Before I could tell Dom that, he left the room. Zeke sat down on the side of the bed next to me and placed his hand on my forehead. "Holy crap, you're burning up! I'll be back." With that, he got up and rushed out of the room like his butt was on fire.

It was a few minutes later when Dom, Zeke, Crosshairs, and Jazz entered my room again. My body was too hot to fall asleep and felt like my skin was on fire. "Ya ain't lookin' so good there, Bre'," Jazz teased and kept his distance.

"Be quiet," I grumbled and rolled over so my back was facing them. Someone sat down on the bed and placed a cold rag on the side of my face, it must have been Zeke.

The rag quickly soaked up the heat my face was producing and no longer felt good. "I guess I'll have to stay here and take care of her," Zeke spoke up. I made a noise of protest and didn't want anyone taking time to take care of me.

"No you aren't Zee, you have a family to go back to. I'm in the same boat as her, I'll take care of her," Dom argued. Zeke shook his head and took a step towards him.

"Not going to happen. Taila will understand."

"How about this? You both go home and I have no one take care of me. If I need help, I call Sarah. Not trouble." I sounded like I was half drunk and having trouble with my speech. We exchanged some more words, mostly them trying to get around my stubbornness and have one of them take care of me. It didn't work well for them and in the end, no one was staying.

I groaned when both of my dogs hopped up on my bed and decided to lay on me. "This isn't helping my stomach at all. Ratchet isn't going to like you being around me, you know." The two didn't give any fucks and fell asleep next to me.

"You're right, I'm not happy that they are." My reaction was slow but when he spoke up out of nowhere scared me. I jerked up to a sitting position, ready to fight anything that comes my way. "Calm down, I came back to give you your antibiotics."

Ratchet handed me two pills and a glass of water. I glared with disgust down at the two pills in my hand and stuck my tongue out. "Couldn't you have at least made it a liquid?"

"Just take it," he grounded out and didn't sound happy on any level. I submissively nodded my head and took the two pills with water. A shiver went down my spine as I swallowed it. "The Twins are suppose to come earlier in the morning so they'll be here before you wake up."

With that, Ratchet left me to my own devices and I not-so-later fell asleep between my two protectors.


	19. Chapter 19: Sentiment

**I don't think I have told any of my readers of this but I draw. Lately, I've gotten into the Predator/Yautja fandom. I still need to buy the movies before I start make any OC's or anything like that. But I've been getting a hang on drawing them. Surprisingly enough, they aren't that hard then what I first thought. I also draw some transformers, mainly the twins of course, but it feels nice to get out of my comfort zone of robots and dragons. Also, the copy n' paste option for Fanfiction is messed up. I always have to delete what I just put in then re-paste so it doesn't freak out and do that weird code thing.**

Sideswipe's POV

The warm concrete on my tires felt relieving as my brother and I drove off of the cargo plane and towards our berthroom. On our drive over there, we were stopped by Lennox and Epps. "Welcome back. Before you head over to Brey's, I wanted to make sure you knew she was sick," Will stated

Sick? I remember that being a human thing like us getting a virus or bug. "How bad is she?" my twin questioned. I turned my optics in his direction in shock from him worrying over our charge. Sunny doesn't care for the human race nor their planet but will follow me and Optimus.

Will and Rob gazed up at him with shock before returning to his normal demeanor. "She has the stomach flu. Ratchet stopped by yesterday to check up on her and gave her some antibiotics. Then from what Jazz and Cross told us that she's not looking too good," Will answered slowly at first.

Sunny dipped his head in acknowledgement before transforming and slowly taking off in the direction of the gate. What has gotten into him? His change of behavior was a bit unnerving since I have been trying to get him to at least be friends with Brey. I shook it off, taking it as if he finally took my words into consideration.

"Thanks, we'll go check up on her." I transform into my beautiful alt. mode and followed my brother out onto the open road. The two of us let loose since we were cooped up in the small cargo plane, taking off quickly.

We arrived at Brey's house within ten minutes and pulled up next to her white Ford and work truck. Of course, we didn't take her 'Ford Only Parking' sign due to her never actually hurting us the first or the second time we park here. I think she's too memorized by the beauty of us.

Over the bond, Sunny let the smallest of trickle of concern leak over his tight border. I perked up on my axels from that happening and sent confusion to him. He didn't do anything back and sent out his holoform.

My holoform also appeared in a shimmering of blue sparkles. Sunny marched over to the front door and without knocking like human customs, barged into her house. Seriously, what has gotten into him to act this way? I followed his path into the house and up the stairs right next to the front door.

Before he could march straight into her room, I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and spun him around to face me. "What in the Pit has gotten into you? Yesterday you were happy to not have to watch over but now you seem worry for her."

He didn't answer. Up this close with his holoform, I could see flecks of trouble within his holoform's optics. Then he finally opened his dermas. "You said it yourself that I should care more for our charge since you like her some much." It sounded cold to anyone but I knew underneath that he was truly taking my words to spark.

"Hey, I'm not telling you to stop, continue on what you-," a loud thumping from within Brey's berthroom interrupted me. Both of us snapped our gaze towards the door.

"Ow, fucking hell," we heard from with the room. "You two, I'm fine. You don't-no, stop, I'm fine. Stop trying to lick me! For the love of- did you just nip me! I'm sick and you think its fine to nip me!" Brey sounded pissed off at whoever was in room with her.

Sunny opened the door to her room. We were greeted by Brey lying on the ground and her two dogs all over her. By the look on her face, she was nowhere pleased of her current situation.

Brey's eyes glanced up from the noise of the door and a smile grew on her lips. "Sides, Sunstreaker! You're back!" she cheered, excited about our appearance and scrambled to her feet.

Aubrey's POV

Kodiak and Vivian were licking my face and nearly suffocating me. I squirmed around on the bed for a short to breath and found myself on the ground. "Ow, fucking hell," I cursed loudly. The two jumped off the bed and continued their assault.

"You two, I'm fine. You don't-" Vivian was able to break past my barrier-" no, stop, I'm fine. Stop trying to lick me! For the love of-" I felt a pinch to my side from Kodiak-" did you just nip me! I'm sick and you think its fine to nip me." My voice expressed my irritation of the two acting this way.

The sound of my bedroom door squeaking caught my attention. Sides and Sunstreaker's holoform were standing there, confused of the whole situation. I perked up in excitement which was blamed on my sick state and the corners of my mouth tipped up.

"Sides, Sunstreaker. You're back!" I scrambled to my feet and rushed over to the two. "Are you guys okay? Did you run into any Cons?" My one meeting with Barricade had told me enough to never have a confrontation with them again.

In my state, my mind was not doing well with being sick and on the antibiotics. I blamed my actions of being excited of the seeing the two and relieve of them returning safely. At least, they did look safe in my eyes. "We're okay. We didn't run into any Cons, sadly" Sides answered.

"That's good." Right at that time, the dogs decided to intervene and jump on the red and yellow holoforms. They weren't attacking them, surprisingly because of last night, and instead, were loving on them. "Hey-' my stomach had different plans and twisted painfully.

My vision swam, adding to the growing list of symptoms for me. Though this was a tiny bit less painful then yesterday and gave me reassurance of this ending soon.

A strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and brought me close to a chest. "Everything okay?" Sides asked and sounded anxious.

"Sit her down on her berth," Sunstreaker ordered and surprised me he was actually caring about me. Sides helped me over to my bed and forced me to sit down. I didn't like how he was the one pushing me around due to the independent streak running in my blood.

When I attempted to stand again, my vision worsened and the streaked male pushed me back down again. "You need to stay down. Sunny's going to fix you up something amazing!" I gazed up at him with confusion writing on my face.

Right on time, my stomach growled loudly, telling me it has been over a day since my last meal. Was Sunstreaker fixing me something to eat? I don't think my stomach could keep down any food he offered me. "I don't wanna eat," I complained and lied back on my bed.

"Well, you need to eat. It's not good for you to starve yourself." I knew that too damn well since every day I skipped some sort of meal.

"If I eat, I might not be able to keep it down," I responded and curled up on myself when my stomach cramped painfully. Kodiak heard me and immediately jumped up with me on the bed. "No, yo aren't going to lick me."

Wait, where's Vivi? I sat up quickly and scanned the room for her. "Where did Vivian go?" I questioned hastily in fear of her missing.

Sides smiled knowingly and pointed towards the open bedroom door. "She followed Sunny to the kitchen. She really has a spot for him, and same thing for him." From the time the two met, they have been the best of buddies, even though one's a dog.

"Yeah, she has," I commented with a hint of jealously in my voice. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the yellow mech has found someone he could be friends with. But I got those two because of my loneness as a Game Warden.

"Do I hear jealously in your voice?" A smirk was on his face, he already knew the answer to that question.

"No," I answered quickly, cursing at myself for the horribly lie. Sides gave me that knowing look. "Fine, yes I am jealous… but you wouldn't understand. You have a brother whose there for you all the time." I had accidently let my anger get the best of me.

It was true though, Sides has Sunstreaker and Sunstreaker has Sides for the rest of their lives. I don't. My brother is off touring around the states, playing music to anyone who wants to hear it. We were never close since we were both introverts and independent of ourselves. Our mother didn't help out relationship.

"What does that have to do with this? And you don't know if I wouldn't understand."

I sat there in silence, thinking over if I should tell him something's and stroking the top of Kod's head. "For the years I have lived in this house, I have been alone. My brother off in the world, playing music. Parents dead."

"Even though I'm use to being alone for nearly all my life, I got lonely in this big house. The Lennox family and I are close but I never had a spot for people. Animals though, I love and felt like I had a connection with them. So I adopted Kodiak and Vivian from the humane society. And we have been the best of friends ever since."

"Do you understand why I'm jealous of Sunstreaker catching the eye of Vivian? The two of them have helped me through some tough times and we've grown close."

Sides nodded his head, understanding where I was coming from. "Oh, I know too how that feels. Femmes have tried to get in the way of me and my brother's bond. As you can see, it never worked out," Sides replied and sat down on the other side of me.

Kodiak raised his head off my lap and gazed up at Sides. His tail wagged happily of having the mech so close. "But I promise you we will never get in the way of your bond with these two."

"Thank you."

A few moments later and Sunstreaker comes back into the room with Vivian on his tail. In his hands was bowl of some sort of soup steaming inside. He places the bowl on my cluttered desk and scowled at the mess in front of me. "You're just as bad as Sides," he complained.

"The life as a Conversation officer never ends and work piles up." Sunstreaker places all of the paper into a pile and scoots it off to the side.

"Come on, you need to eat." I had just realized his change of demeanor; he wasn't grumpy or disgusted of being close to me. I brushed it off like it was part of my imagination and stumbled to my desk before he could get angry at me.

By the smell of the soup, it was the chicken kind. I sat down and carefully took a sip of the hot soup. The taste was beyond anyone that I have tasted in my time, including Sarah's. This wasn't the canned kind; did he make this himself? "Wow Sunstreaker, this is amazing!"

Sunstreaker turned his head to the side with his arms cross and the hint of red appeared on his cheeks. Was he blushing from my compliment? "Thanks." I finished the rest of the soup and was about to take the bowl to the kitchen.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sides questioned and snatched the bowl out of my hands. "Go lay down." Then he left the room with the bowl.

I glanced over to Sunstreaker who was sitting on my bed and playing with Vivian. Since he was distracted with the Pitbull, this was the perfect opportunity to sneak out and help Sides. As I was tip-toeing out of my room, a hand wrapped around my wrist and stopped me. "Didn't my brother tell you to lay down?"

Shit, Sunstreaker caught me. "Yeah but he didn't say where," I commented and turned around to face him. That was the truth though; Sides didn't tell me where to lay down.

His face morphed to an expression saying he wasn't pleased with my comment. Sunstreaker pointed sternly to my bed across the room. "I'll tell you then, go lay down on your berth." I sighed in defeat and trudged over before face planting onto my bed.

The bed dipped down next to me. "Why are you acting like this?" I questioned, curious on his changed behavior. Sunstreaker didn't answer and kept to himself.

"Don't tell me you knocked her out?" Sides teased once he came back. Even though my face was buried into my blankets, I could the heated glare from the mech next to me.

"She's stubborn," was all he said about me. The red mech barked a laugh.

"You just figured that out. The moment I saw her, I knew she was trouble but that didn't stop me." Didn't stop him from what? What did he have up his sleeve?

"Yeah, I know that. Even though I told you I didn't want anything to do with her, you still went after her. Telling me that I won't regret this. Why though? Yes, she's fun to hang around with, sometimes. But why?" I guess that makes two of us.

"I see a little of us in her. A troubling past and wanting change."

"All of the Bots have a troubling past and want change."

"Yes, yes, you are right about that but she told me about some of her past. Did you know she has a brother? Or her creators are dead? And that she's jealous of how close you have grown towards Vivi? No, I didn't think so."

"You have seen how guarded she is, doesn't like showing weakness. Neither is she throwing out trust. But she trusted me enough to tell me about her jealously and her family," Sides continued.

"You know my distaste for humans."

"I do but you need to trust me on this one. I think she even likes us more than friends." Sunstreaker sighed and moved slightly next to me.

"Fine, I hate you sometimes."

"No you don't, you love me!" I let a smile grow on my lips of the two bickering with each other before drifting off into sleep.


	20. Chapter 20: Fear Driven

"I don't know whether or not I should kick their asses," a familiar voice woke me up form my peaceful slumber.

"You should think about that before you do fulfill your actions. Both are skilled warriors and frontliners so they aren't afraid of death," another familiar voice told his companion of the consequence of his actions. By the sound of his voice, it was my great friend, Zeke.

"I still would kick their robotic asses for getting this close to Brey." It was Dominick who was sticking up for me and would defend me from danger. "Look! They're fucking snuggling with her. Disgusting." My brain finally registered two warm bodies pressed against mine.

It was getting too hot with the blanket over me and the warmth coming from them. Who are 'them' in the first place? The wheels inside of my head began to spin and fear whoever was in the bed with me. I wiggled out of their grasp and readied myself to fight.

The familiar faces of Sides and Sunstreaker caught me off guard. They were the ones snuggling with me under the blankets; the red mech was much closer to me then his brother but nevertheless, it was both of them. "What the hell?" I mumbled out loud and rubbed the spell of sleep from my eyes.

"We could be asking the same thing," Dom grounded out and sounded not too pleased. I spun around and faced the two behind me. "So, care to give an explanation of why they are in your bed and cuddling with you."

A lie was needed before Dom killed these two for going over the line. "I was cold last night and couldn't find any of my blankets so those two became my blankets." It was a great lie to have thought up on the fly and I was proud of myself for it.

Then, a trickle of guilt flooded my mind for lying to them. My mother had taught me all too well on how to lie expertly without realizing it was a lie. "How could you not find any of your blankets, you have like thirty in this house alone," Dom argued, not totally buying my lie.

"Shh-" I placed my pointer finger to my lips-" the two are still asleep. They had to go scout out some activity yesterday and came back early this morning. They need their rest."

"That would be nice if all three of you kept your voices down," Sides grunted and moved so he was on his back. His cobalt blue eyes stared at me with a hidden emotion before he glared slightly at the two behind me.

"Sorry, go back to sleep. We'll take out conversation somewhere else," I responded and was able to leave the room when Sides reached out. His large hand wrapped around my wrist, just enough to stop me but allow me to pull away with ease.

"No, you're sick. Come lay down with us." Our eyes met again and within his could be seen with true compassion. A shiver went down my spine at that and a drop of fear forced me to change my gaze down to the floor.

Surprisingly, my sickness has almost disappeared within a couple of days. I was glad though, it was time to go back to work tomorrow and have Tipps rip me a new one.

I pulled my wrist out of his grip and without saying anything to him, fast-walked out of the room. "Nice going, brother of mine. You said she was trusting us. Did that seem like trust?" I heard before heading down the stairs.

The memory of what happened earlier this morning came to mind. I didn't know how to feel about the two of them. My past restricts me from having any sort of affection towards them but my heart was wanting to feel something with them.

"Fuck them, right Brey?" Dominick brought me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I questioned, confused and stopped in my tracks. Was he jealous about them? He has no reason to be though; his flirting is only fake and never meant anything.

"Those two-"

"That's enough out of you, Dominick. If you don't have anything nice to say, go hang with Crosshairs outside," Zeke interrupted the ex-military soldier from continuing what he was going to say. The salt and peppered hair male scowled at Zeke before stalking out of the house and slamming the door behind him.

"What has gotten into him?" I started heading towards the kitchen and was surprised to find both of the dogs in here. The two bound up to me excitedly and licked at my hands. "Morning, you two."

"I think he has been hanging around Crosshairs too much." That sounded about right because Dom wouldn't say those things. Yes, he flirts with me all the time but we both know we'll never have a relationship with each other.

"I haven't even met Crosshairs."

"That's good. He's rude and very upfront about things. And he likes to act like he the boss of everyone besides Optimus." I rolled my eyes at the description Zeke gave to me about Crosshairs. The mech didn't sound like a great bot in the first place, especially since he turned my friend into something he's not.

I filled up a glass of water and took small sips from it while staring out the kitchen window. "What do you think about Sides and Sunstreaker?" I truly wanted to know what his thoughts were about them; it would help me choose whether or not to let them closer. "And please be honest, it's serious."

Zeke turned his eyes to settle on me with his thinking face on. At least he was taking it serious and thinking about the two still lying on my bed. "They're good mechs. Jazz has told me a few things about them. They're protective of each other since that's all they have." Yeah, I knew that.

"I would be carefully around them; Sideswipe uses his wild side to hide something. Sunstreaker, in general, downright despises humans and our planet. I haven't been around them all that much to get a good read on them. But throw out some trust to them. See how they react and what they do with it."

"You can still have your walls up to protect yourself but trust them, just a little bit." With that said, Zeke turned around and left me to pounder what he just said to me. Trust them? Even a tiny bit? My mind was sending off alarms of the thought of trusting them.

He did have a good idea on seeing on how they react to it and what they do with it. Maybe he's right, plus I can still have my walls up for protection. God forbid I ever let my walls down again. It would most likely be the death of me. It nearly was before.

The dogs perked up from their spots next to me and bounded out of the kitchen. "Whoa, what's got you all excited?" Sides voice surprised and I spun around in time to see him and his brother strolling into the kitchen. "Hey, knew we would find you here."

"I'm sorr-"

"Don't apologize for someone else's actions you had no control over," Sunstreaker interrupted and stood in front of me.

"But-" he raised his hand to silence me.

"No, if he's mech enough, he'll apologize himself. If not, I don't care." I knew it was best not to argue with the yellow mech and decided to keep my trap shut.

Sides came up to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to pull me close to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. My body was still recuperating after having the stomach flu and blamed my exhaustion on my actions. "Someone's tired," Sides teased and placed his hand on top of my head.

"Shut it," I growled with it being empty, and then yelped when Sides picked me up bridle style. My arms instinctly wrapped around his neck to secure myself. "How in the hell are you able to pick me up?!" I weigh about one-hundred and eighty pounds and no one has been able to pick me up like this in forever.

"You're light," he responded with and strolled out of the kitchen. He was carrying me like I weighed nearly nothing.

My mouth was agape in shock and eyes wide, staring up at him. "I'm not light on any level. Dom has trouble picking me up bridle style and he's bulky. You're lanky and thin."

"Have you not seen the muscles on my holoform? Now, come on. We want to snuggle with you again." The warning bell inside of my head went off in reaction and started up my fight, flight, or freeze response.

"I'm, I'm good." I swallowed hard and struggled to get out of his arms. He gave me a look of confusion and didn't let me down, holding me tighter to his chest. A part of my heart felt good being this close to him but the logical side of my brain overthrew that.

"Hey, what's the problem?"

"Please, let me go." My voice filled with fright and my muscles began to tense, ready to fight if needed.

Sides opened his mouth but his brother beat him to it. "Sides, let her go. She's scared, can't you see." I was thankful for Sunstreaker to notice the fear in my eyes. The red mech finally let me back on my feet with an apologetic expression on his face.

I ignored it, giving Sunstreaker a thankful look and fast-walked out of the kitchen. "You're an idiot, you probably set yourself all the way back to the beginning with her."

"How was I supposed to know that would scare her?! She fine with cuddling with us less than ten cycles ago."

"She was recharging, dumbaft!" I decided not to listen to their conversation anymore and snatch my white Ford's keys off the hanger next to the front door.

Powerstroke was still in his place next to the two Lambo's seeming nonliving. Hopefully they didn't notice me sneaking out of the house. I rush over to my truck, started him up, and tore out of there rapidly.

It looked like my escaped didn't catch their attention or maybe they are being smart and letting me have some time to myself. '_Throw out some trust to them'_, Zeke's words rung inside of my head while driving down the main road that runs through Jay.

Their actions made me even more hesitant of listening to my friend. It took Sunstreaker to notice the fright in my eyes and tell Sides to let me go. Fuck! I left the dogs back there. Did I serious want to go back and face them? The Twins knew that if they hurt my baby's, I would disassemble them and turn them into toasters.

Unable to truly focus on the road ahead of me, I pull off the side of the road and rest my forehead on the steering wheel. A tear silent fell from my eye and down on the leather seat. "What have I gotten myself into? Curiosity killed the cat… but satisfaction brought it back."

Out of nowhere, my phone began to ring and scared me from my phase. I picked it up without a care in the world and answered whoever was calling. "Brey, everything okay? Sunstreaker says you drove off." It was Will who was calling. I sighed and rested my head on the steering wheel again.

"That, I don't know. Those two… I don't know how to feel with them. It's difficult." Another tear fell onto the leather and made a loud dripping sound.

"Are, are you crying? Do you want to come to the base for a little bit?" Will sounded like he was talking to me like a two year old but it didn't matter to me. When I'm in this state of mind, the littlest of things can set me off. Either I fight or I run, rarely do I freeze.

"Yeah," was all I said. I left it up to him to figure out if the yeah was for both, or one or the other.

"Okay, I'll send Hide to pick you up." I hung up on him, not caring if sent him in a frenzy of some sorts. He knows how I get in this state, bad things usually happen to me and it's usually me who does those bad things.

It was less than half an hour when the rumble of Hide's alt mode pulling up in front of my truck. His holoform jumped out and strolled up to my door. My truck was already shut off before he even got here.

Hide opened the driver side door and gently grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's get you to Will." He carefully helped me out on to the ground and led me over to his passenger side door.

I outstretched my hand towards my truck in a weak attempt to grab any part of it. "But my truck," I whine and didn't want to leave my truck out here on the road. Anyone could easily break in and steal him away from me.

"I'll have Jazz take Zeke to drive it back to your house for you," Hide offered and lifted me up into the passenger seat of his alt. mode. That made me feel a little bit better for what has been happening today. I leaned against the closed door and gazed out at the trees off to the side of the road. "I'm going to kick their fragging afts the next time I see them."

His comment went not too well with my heart and a pathetic glare was thrown his way. I snapped out it, confused and afraid on why that happened. "Uh, sure," I mumbled, not paying much attention to the outside world now.

Something weird was happening to me and I needed to figure it out.


	21. Chapter 21: Forgiveness

My eyes found Will's light brown ones through the window next to me. A solemn look on his face didn't settle well with me, knowing he was pitying me for my predicament. Hide opened the door and allowed Will to slowly approach me.

His warm hand carefully enclosed around mine. "Aubrey, would you like to tell me what happened?" The kind and soft expression on his face wanted me to explain for my mood, but the ornery part of my personality told me 'no'. I barely shook my head and hugged myself tighter, pulling my hand away from his.

"That okay, if you want to tell me, you will." Will turned his attention to the center console since Hide deactivated his holoform. "Could you take her to the Rec. room? Make sure there's a soldier there with her." I didn't want to be alone with someone I didn't know. That's the last place I wanted to be.

"No," I mumbled softly and shook my head more noticeably. "I need work." With my mind in the state it's in, I needed something to keep me busy.

Will nodded his head, a little bit surprised. "I can find something for you to do. Thanks, Hide." My friend takes my hand again and gently leads me out of Hide's alt. mode. "Prowl probably needs help with some datapads. He'll need someone with a rational mind and common sense. You up for that."

I dipped my head and allowed him to pull me away from the bulky truck behind me. Before entering the large hangar of working soldiers, I gave Hide a goodbye wave after he closed the passenger door.

The size of the main hangar still made me awe at the sight of it. It can comfortably fit all the Autobots in here with extra room for them to stretch. At the front was a catwalk bridge with soldiers walking and working about it.

We strolled up to the black and white S.I.C of the Autobots. "Hey, Prowl, do have any work for Brey here to help you with?" Prowl turned to face us with a large tablet in his hand. His gaze settled on me, he seemed to be judging me, seeing if I fit enough for the job.

This caused me to take my hand away from Will's and stand up straight with my shoulders back and head high. After of being an officer of the law for about eight years, your training will kick in automatically.

A proving smile appeared on his lips, an extremely tiny one, before it disappeared. "I do, if you're up for it." Was he challenging me? It was not a good idea to challenge me because I will do everything in my power to defeat my opponent.

"I am, Sir," I responded, voice confident in my skills.

"Follow me." I continued to hold my head high and shoulders back while following him. Prowl lead me over to a table with a single computer on it. There wasn't anybody over gladly so I could work in peace with whatever he'll have be doing.

"Since you work with the human officers of the law, I need you to go over the citations I have issued to both human and Bot. A lot of the soldiers here like to break the rules set in place for them." Prowl sounded irritated of human nature. I chuckled quietly to myself and shook my head.

"You should have learned that humans like to push the limits of what they can and cannot do. It's like in their gene to do that, even us officers like to break laws. Everyone once has broken a law, including yourself." He looked so offended by me say that he has broken a law.

"I have not, for your knowledge." I raised an eyebrow at him but brushed off the lie he totally told. Prowl set up the computer on the table for me to get to work on and keep me busy. "For the citations, check if they have done what they have been punished for."

That sounded easy enough for a newbie to do. "I understand, thank you." He dipped his head before leaving me to do the assessment he gave me. I got to work on making sure if the soldier has done his time and typed on Word for the ones that haven't.

Fun enough, while doing this, a couple new ones appeared at the bottom. The Twins name's were scattered throughout the list, which surprised me a little bit. They didn't seem too much of a troublemaker in my eyes but I guess they act different on the base.

It did strike me as odd that Sunstreaker was on here, less than his brother but still on here. He's a good ma-mech, nearly forgot he and his twin are sentient robots from another planet. But why do I get weird feelings when around them?

Stop thinking about them! Do your work and get it done quickly. I focused back on making sure every non-punished soldier was writing down with the date they're suppose to fulfill their end. Some were late, those ones were written down at the top so Prowl could make sure they were the first seen.

It was later in the day, the sun touching the horizon when the black and white mech came back to check up on me. All the work was done by that time and he seemed impress even though he doesn't show much emotion. "Some of the soldiers haven't fulfilled their punishment and I put those at the top. All are in alphabetic order by last name."

"Good work, if you ever think about quitting as an officer, I would take you within a spark beat. You work well." I thanked him and followed him back over to where Will was talking with Epps and Fig.

"How you feeling? You're looking much better," Lennox questioned.

A smile grew on my lips. "Good, I'm ready to go home."

"We'll take you home then," a familiar voice stated behind me. My breath caught in my throat at the sound of Sides's voice and my stomach fluttered.

All three of the army men stepped up and put on a brave face. "Boss Bot told you to leave her alone for a while," Will grounded out.

Before this could escalate and become worse, I stepped in and put myself between the Twins and the group of three. "Hey, it's fine. I'm good. I just needed sometime away from them." The three gave me a look and crossed their arms over their chest.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. See, I'm all better. I just had an episode and will be going back to work tomorrow for an uneventfully day." Epp's glare hardened on the two behind me. "I'll go home tonight and everything will be fine." I truly didn't know why I was doing this after what happened earlier.

Gladly the three gave in and allowed Sides and Sunstreaker to take me home. "I'm sorry about pushing myself on you. Everything was going good so I thought it would be fine."

"And he thought wrong," Sunstreaker butted in and his voice sounded inside of Sides alt. mode.

"Yes, I did. But do you think you could forgive me? I'll give you space but please let us stick around," Sides begged and tightened my seatbelt. I sighed and gazed out at the window next to me.

My heart wanted to follow Zeke's word of giving them some trust and seeing what they do with it. The rational side of my brain was saying no and telling me to get far away from everyone. But I didn't want to be alone with my dogs anymore with the occasional hanging out with my friends.

I stared into the rearview mirror and watched the yellow Lambo behind us. The decision wasn't too hard to make and a small smile grew on my lips. "Yes, I'll forgive you just give me some time."

Sides revved his engine loudly and sped up over the speed limit. "Yes! Thank you so much! You won't regret this… I do have a question though." He paused and seemed unsure about wanting to ask his inquire. "Why do you act this way? Seeming afraid when super close around us or other humans in general."

"A story for another time," I pushed his question out of the way and kept quiet. What has happened in the past, needs to stay in the past. Unless it comes to my brother, he's one that allowed to stay in the present with me.

"Alright." The cabin of his alt. mode became engulfed by silence and it was welcomed in with open arms by me. Unfortunately, memories grew inside of my head of my past.

Count. Counting helps. One… two… three- "Why are you counting?" Sides interrupted me. Wait… was I counting out loud. I buried my head into my hands and mumbled to myself how stupid I was.

"Nothing," I said plainly and ran my hand through my hair, a nervous habit of mine. The ringing of my phone saved me from continuing my conversation with the red twin. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw that the caller ID said 'Dommie'. "Hey," I answered the phone slightly awkward.

What happened this morning still rolled around in my head with him. "Hey, I uh, I called because I wanted to apologize for my actions this morning. Any way I can make it up by taking you out for dinner?"

"Where will this dinner be taking place at?" I secretly teased him and dragged my fingernail across the leather seat. The seat below me heated up a little bit for me to notice.

"They opened this new place called C-side Seafood if you would like to have dinner there."

"Sure, let me get home and in some clean clothes. I'll text you when I arrive back home."

"Where are you?" Confusion in his voice.

"On the road, I'll text you when I get home, see ya in a bit." I ended the call with that and felt nervous at the end of it. His question unsettled me, why was he suddenly acting this way? It had something to do with Crosshairs but something told that wasn't all of it.

I brushed it off and held on tightly to my phone, over thinking what could happen with Dom. My brotherhood with him over threw a lot of things since our meeting at the police academy. But even that has its limitation.

Gladly, neither of the twins struck up a conversation after what they probably overheard. We made it to my house within a few minutes and the three of us entered my house, not saying a word to each other. I headed up stairs to put on some clean clothes on for dinner.

The pounding of paws against the floor caught my attention and a smile graced my lips. Then my closed bedroom door rattled from the two probably running into it. I couldn't help but laugh after slipping on a new shirt.

After opening the door giving the two silly puppies a look, I stepped down the stairs and put on my combat boots. "You two watch the troublemakers," I teased the two and snatched my truck keys hanging by the door.

"Hey! We aren't that bad. And we're your guardians, so we're coming with you," Sides gasped and acted offended by my joke.

"I wasn't talking to you two, I was talking to those two." I pointed to my two trusty family on four legs. "Also, Dom has enough beef with you two. You don't need to make it worse. Lastly, Crosshairs will be with him, I'll be fine."

"You two-" I pointed to the dogs-" be good. No digging." The two of them had a problem with that and it doesn't help with the gopher holes. "You two-" I pointed to the twins-" also be good. And if you two want to duke it out, there's a pasture that you can, alright?"

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes with a hint of playfulness. "Call us if we need to rearrange Dominick's face for you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." With that, I left my house and hopped up in my white Ford that was safety delivered back to my house. The red Lambo's engine started up and backed up so my exit was blocked. "Sides, I'll be fine. I have my phone with me, I'll call if I need help, alright?"

Sides sunk down on his wheels before transforming into his bipedal form, scaring me from his sudden movement."Please, Brey, take us. We're not that bad, are we?" Now he was playing the guilt card on me. Sadly for him, I dealt with this multiple times in my career.

The yellow lambo followed his twin by transforming and standing behind him with his arms crossed. "You ain't gonna guilt trip me. You know the answer to that. If I thought you guys were bad or meant harm to me or the general public, there would be bullet holes in your armor. I take my career seriously."

"But I'm fine, Crosshairs will be there, okay? And for the hundredth time, I'll call you if I need help or I'm in trouble, alright?" Sides had a troubling look on his face. "Like I said, give me some time and space."

Sunstreaker placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "She said she'll call us if she needs help," the yellow twin butted in and reassured his brother. The two glanced at each other before Sides sighed and changed his gaze to mine.

"I just don't like how he acted towards you this morning and Crosshairs isn't a fan of humans."

"Neither is your twin but here we are."

"Watch it, you're different compared to the meat sacks of this mud ball planet," Sunstreaker grounded out, not totally having his voice filled with anger.

"I'm the same as any other 'meat sack of this mud ball planet', still made of flesh and bones." I kind of caught him a trap because if said anything else if would go against his pride or hurt me.

He kept his mouth shut and arms crossed over his chest. "Anyway, thanks for your concern but I can deal with my great friend. All of us have had a bad day. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." With that, I pulled my truck around Sides and drove to my designation.

I stopped off to the side of the road a few miles away from my house and texted Dom. Now, to find where this C-side Seafood is so I entered the name into Google maps and followed the instructions.

With the restaurant being new to town, everyone flocked to it and gave me trouble of finding a spot. After scanning for parking spots and noticing Dom was here with Crosshairs, I found a place and parked there.

The outside of the building was beautiful with an ocean taste to it even though we are far from the coast. It still had a modern look to it, well balanced with the ocean setting had. I pushed down the lump in my throat and walked through the front doors.

It was stunning on the inside also with seashells and other ocean things decorating the wall and small front desk. A moderate line of people stopped me from seeing if Dom already had a seat. So instead of waiting to get to the front seeing if he was there, I shot him a text.

My friend gladly answered within thirty seconds and appeared around the corner. Dom waved at me to follow him to which I did and sat down at the table he was at. It was a two person seat with a dark brown drink and two waters upon it. "I see you have been waiting for a little bit."

"Yeah, I knew it was going to be busy since it just opened so when you agreed to have dinner with me I came down and got a table for us," he ran on with a extremely on sentence, not completely looking me in the eye.

By the looks of it, Crosshairs wasn't in sight, good for the both of us. Dom's hands were together on table. I grabbed one of his with mine and stared directly in the eye. "What's going on? Something is troubling you and we both know it."

Dom sighed deeply and leaned back in chair with his arms crossed over his chest. I retracted my hand back to my lap and sat up tall. "Those two, 'your guardians', I don't like them. Something in my stomach tells me that."

"I'm sorry Dommie but they're my guardians. Are you sure it's not you being hungry?" I joked and a soft smile grew on my lips. But it was wiped off when Dom scowled at me with angry deep in his eyes. "Are you jealous?" This was the main question needed to get off my chest.

This questioned flared the flames in his eyes, answering it without him having saying anything. "No, why should I be?" I put my hands up in defense and turned my head to the side.

"Wasn't all your flirting fake? Never meaning anything?" I pressed the subject even more, needing to know the answer. He should know that I don't like him that way and never will, he's more of a brother than anything.

He grumbled under his breath and glared at the poor table. "Some of it wasn't, but I was-" he was interrupted by a green haired man rushing past people.

"We got trouble!" he shouted and signaled for us to follow him. We glanced at each other in confusion before literally jumping from our table and running with him.

"Cross, what is it?" So this must be Crosshairs's holoform.

"Cons and they're close. The trine flew over head less than thirty nanoklik's ago. We need to get you to base, now." I glanced at my tall Ford at the other end of the parking lot and prayed for him to be spared.

Crosshairs forced us to get in the only two seats and let him take the wheel. The green corvette sped out of the parking lot with his wheels squealing and towards the base.


	22. Chapter 22: Cheeky Mechs

**Here's another one! I have some news: I'm going to be taking the written test for my driver's license. The whole shutdown messed up my plan to schedule it a while back so I'm a little rusty. Of course, I'm nervous because after that, I have to take the actual driving test two weeks later. It doesn't help I over think everything, especially tests. Hopefully I won't screw myself over because of that.**

The deep and sharp rumbling of a jet caught my attention. The two of us looked out the windows to see three jets above us. "Slag! Change of plans. You two are going to run through the forest so I can beat the slag out of them."

His tires screeched to a stop on the pavement and the doors open for our escape. Dom and I scrambled out of the car and immediately took off in a mad dash for the tree line. We glanced at each other, knowing what to do next in a hectic moment like this.

I pulled my gun out and came to a stop right in time as the purple jet transformed in front of us. It smirked sinisterly down at Dom and reached its hand out to grab to him. "Oh no you don't!" I aimed my gun at his head with a steady hand and popped off a couple shots.

The purple Con cried out in pain and stumbled back, placing his hands on his face. My victory didn't last long as a dark grey hand wrapped around me and my body up into the air. My feet dangled freely and made me feel powerless.

With my gun still in hand, I twisted the best I could and shot a few more bullets at the blue Con. Like the other one, he cried out and grabbed at his neck which was leaking energon. He tossed me away like garbage.

Flying through the air made it felt like it was minutes before a yellow hand caught me safely. The air was knocked out of my lungs and my head hit the metal of Sunstreaker's hand. I groaned then yelped in surprise as Sunstreaker expertly blocked hits from the other Cons.

Sunstreaker was swift and slick with his movements with his twin helping his escape. I finally was set down on the hard asphalt and watched the two get back in the action. It had seemed a couple of other jets joined the party, still out numbering the Bots.

Through the mess of the surrounding area, I spotted the flash of a light blue shirt making its way through the forest. Dom was still out there, in need of help.

My eyes observed the intense fighting going on in the middle of the road before noticing a Con looking over where Dom is. Gladly, throughout this whole thing, my gun was still in my hand. I got off of my butt and took aim once again at the red optic of the Con.

All it took was a single bullet to hit his eye and allow Crosshairs to take him down. I cheered inwardly and greeted my friend once he got over to me. "Remind me never to on the wrong of your barrel," Dom joked and sat on down the asphalt with me.

We silently watched the fight the remaining bots and breathed heavily, attempting to catch our breath. I lay back on the cool ground below me and stared up at the dark sky. The adrenaline rush was gone left my body feeling heavy and tired.

A yawn escaped me and Dom chuckled quietly. "The two us are going to sleep good tonight."

The sound blasting of jets taking off scared me from nearly falling asleep. The three original jets that attacked us were making a hasty retreat to wherever their base is. Sides red head came into view and a look of concern and worry covered his face. "Brey? Are you okay?" he questioned and sounded like he was going to cry.

"Yeah, just, I now don't like free flying or planes; especially jets," I joked and sat up with my arms resting on my knees. A tiny smile appeared on his and his brother's lips. "I'm gonna stay with cars yep, I need car." My speech slightly slurred as if I was drunk which was how I acted when exhausted.

I reached towards the two of them and made grabbing motions like a baby. "Take me home, Prince Charming. No Ratchet the Hatchet, he mean." Sunstreaker scooped me off the ground and transformed around me.

"You need to see Hatchet to make sure you're fine," Sunstreaker ordered and left no room for arguing. But it's me, I'm stubborn beyond belief.

"Sunny, when I say no, I mean no. I need to go home and sleep. Yeah, sleep sounds good right about now." I crawled to the back of his alt. mode and collapsed on the warm leather seats. My rips complained from me laying on them, specially my left side.

The yellow twin didn't reply and began the trip home.

A bright light in my eyes woke me up from my nap and I sat up to face the light. "Huh? Where? What? Fucking ow!" I mumbled incoherently. My left side complained moderately from me moving around.

"Next time don't take on two Cons by yourself," a familiar male voice spoke up.

"Actually it was three Cons, Ratchet," another familiar male voice corrected the other one. I opened my eyes and was met by being in the Med. Bay of the Autobot base. Sides and Sunstreaker were on a metal slab meant for their size across from me.

Ratchet's holoform was off to my right, looking not so pleased. "Saying three isn't making her case any easier. It was dumb and reckless. And it could have gotten herself killed."

"Wasn't my first time facing death nor will it be my last," I grunted and crossed my arms over my chest. They were treating me like a child and I didn't like it one bit. I saw off to my left was the sleeping figure of Dom and quickly got off of the cot.

Dom looked worse for wear with a few of his cuts littering his body. "Lay down! You're supposed to be resting up!" Ratchet grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Dom. I wasn't too worried for my friend as he seemed to be only sleeping.

It was later on this new day when the two troublemakers came back. Sides rolled up to where my cot was with the corners of his mouth tipped up warm, same with his brother. "How are you feeling, Red Shooter?"

"Red Shooter?" I questioned on this new nickname he gave me.

"Yeah, everyone around base is calling you that now. You shot two out of the three cons in their optics. You got Thundercracker in the neck cables. And you barely got a scratch on you, besides your hurt side." He sounded so excited like a kid getting a puppy for their birthday.

"And Optimus has even offered you a position on the team." My thoughts came to a screeching halt and my jaw dropped to the floor.

"I can't, I can't. My career, I can't give up my career," I stuttered, unsure about this whole thing. "I'm beyond honored though."

"Come on, you get to see us every day and no more worrying about random attacks from Cons. And if you're honored about it, then take the offer." Sides was really trying to get me join them but my career was wired in brain.

After sometime of arguing, the red twin dropped the matter and pouted for the rest of the day. I parted ways with the two and headed towards the cafeteria for some lunch. Some of the soldiers inside glanced at me and muttered to their friends close to them.

Someone in the group called out that the 'Red Shooter' was here. When Sides told me that, I thought he was kidding and he was the one that came up with it. My thought was clearly wrong as a few soldiers came up to me and greeted me.

With all this attention on me, I swiftly grabbed a lunch and got out of there as fast as possible. Even when Tipps would recognize me for my hard work, it would cause me to freak out with the attention on me.

I sat between the cafeteria and another hangar next to it and silently ate my lunch. My dogs! The thought came up randomly. It caused me to abandon my lunch and rush towards the main hangar. Hopefully Will is there because I needed to go home, like yesterday.

My left side protested from my hard running and forced my breaths to be painful. I pushed past it and slid to a stop at the entrance of the main hangar. My eyes scanned over every soldier within sight for Will until they caught his brown hair.

Without another thought, I rushed up the catwalk, pushing past people, and stopped in front of Will. The brown haired man gave me a confused expression. "Dogs, need to go home," I stated between breaths to catch my breath.

Will chuckled and leaned back against the handrail with his arms crossed over his chest. "Seems like you had a run. Did Ratchet authorize you to be allowed to run?"

"I need to go home now." Jeez, I need to exercise some more. Well, I did run half a mile or more in a dead sprint. That's how important the dogs are to me and forever will be that way.

"You're fine, the Terror Twins went over when you were out and checked up on them. They also fed and watered them for you. But don't worry, once they get done with radar watch then they'll take you home… unless you want Hide to take you." I shook my head to decline the offer.

"No, I'll be fine until they're done. I'm just going to be sitting over there, catching my breath."

"No, you won't. If you were a bot, I would throw a wrench at you. You haven't been cleared by me, yet," Ratchet interrupted my plan. I flinched by pushing my shoulders up, scared of facing the wrath of Ratchet.

It was a draw between Sunstreaker and Ratchet on who's the scariest. Each have their own category of scariness but still are on the same level.

Sunstreaker has threatened to step on a human and nearly has from what I have heard. Ratchet has threatened to throw a wrench which he has; even Optimus may seem a tiny bit scared of him. It's hard to pick which one is the scariest on base.

"Oh, hey, ya didn't see that, right?" I asked meekly and turned around to face him. They say face your fears, right?

Ratchet glared at me and caused me to squeak fearfully. "You have a glitch for thinking I didn't see you running across the base."

"Hey! It was important. I needed to go home to make sure my dogs were fine." The medic rolled his eyes, not finding my reason important enough.

"You're coming with me now," he ordered firmly and scooped me off the catwalk. I yelped from the sudden moved and held tightly to his hand as not to fall off. A heated glare was sent in his direction for his actions toward me.

The neon green bot set me down on the counter that of his size before his holoform appeared next to me. It was best not to argue with him so the two of us didn't say a word to each other. Both of us a little pissed off at the other, for good reason too.

He checked my side which was starting to bruise and the other cuts and bruises littering my body. I hissed under my breath as he cleansed the worse of the cuts. Said cut must have happened when that stupid Con picked me up but the adrenaline was running through my veins. "You could be a little bit more careful."

"Do not start that. You took on three Cons. I don't care if you're called the Red Shooter by the humans, you could've died," he argued, clearly not pleased of my actions.

"Like I have said, I have faced death before. That wasn't my first nor will be my last. My job is dangerous. The people I have to interact with usually have a weapon on them, a gun or knife. Most of the time, that gun is loaded, ready to shoot. May it be a deer or some other game animal or me." They should know by now that my job is dangerous.

"Still doesn't mean you should shoot at three Cons. You protect humans, not Cybertronians."

"Dominick was about to get caught by a Con, so I was protecting a human." I had caught the medic in a trap. It was true though, Dom was about to get scooped up by the purple jet.

The medic grumbled under his breath before finishing up his check up. "You're fine to go home now, but no extreme lifting or exercise." I solemnly nodded my head then fast walked out of the Med. Bay. Maybe I could find wherever Dom was?

Soldiers littered the grounds outside of the large hangars, not a lot but a good handful. One of them spotted me walking out of the Med. Bay and pointed me out to her buddies. The others acted excitedly of me appearing but the small scowl on my face sent them away. I didn't want any more attention on me, the cafeteria 'incident' already spooked me enough.

Interacting with a large group of people or human I don't know scares me. Even when I was in high school and college, talking with people wasn't my thing. When Will introduced me to the bots in their holoforms, there were probably five or six of them but it made me uneasy.

Strolling around the base looking for my friend was beginning to worry me. Did he already go home without saying anything to me? Is he mad at me? If he hated me or no longer wanted to hang out with me, I wouldn't know what to do without him as my friend.

Zeke and Dom are a pair, if you lost one, it wouldn't be the same without him. They're the only two, besides the Terror Twins, that are close to me. Well, Zeke and Dom are closer to me by a long shot then the other two.

Off in the distance, I see the shiny forest green paintjob of Crosshairs talking to Bumblebee. Ratchet's words echoed in my brain about no extreme exercise, meaning no running over there. Stupid Cons, but thankfully Sunstreaker caught me before I became a pancake on the asphalt.

My feet carry me in a fast paced stroll over to where the two were having a conversation with each other. Bumblebee noticed me coming up to them. "What's up-my lady?" He bowed like a gentleman, acting silly and having fun.

"Just came over to see if Crosshairs has seen Dominick. Ratchet is letting me go home now." I gave a pointed look at Crosshairs, silently implying my question towards.

The green mech scowled down at me and crossed his arms over his chest. "We talked for a bit, but then he headed over to the main hangar." From this moment on, the two of us could tell we would never be friends.

"Thanks. See you around, Bumblebee!" I waved a goodbye to Bee while departing from the two and heading towards the main hangar. Hopefully Dom was there so the two of could go home after what had happened yesterday.

From my spot on the ground and the soldiers around me, my eyes found the salt and pepper male on the catwalk. Dom sitting by his lonesome at a table of to the side. Will and Epps were on the other side of the catwalk, making sure everything was running smoothly.

I trekked up the many stairs to where he was and stalked silently behind him. "Bah!" I shouted and scared the poor man. Dom jumped from his seat and whirled around to face me, fear written over his face.

Once he saw it was just me, his expression morphed into an 'I'm done with your bullshit' face. He slapped my bicep with the back of his hand before hugging me tightly. "I'm so gladly you're okay."

We stood there for a couple of second then released each other, a smile on both of our faces. "I should be saying that to you! You nearly had one Con grab and another wanting to turn you into ash."

"Well, you shot three of them and saved my life twice by the sound of it. Thanks, by the way." Dom lightly punched my shoulder and pushed his fist against me.

"You would do the same for me." I took a seat at the he was sitting at and sighed deeply. My side was bothering me from traveling all over the base without much rest. He sat back down too and the two of sat in silence. I was waiting for Sides and Sunstreaker to get down with radar duty.

Ratchet didn't tell me how long it would be until the two got done with their punishment. Prowl probably is hounding on them to get a few of their 'tickets' carried out. Since they are my guardians, they're away from the base, unable to fulfill their punishments. Is that why they became my guardian? To get away from Prowl?

No, that couldn't be. Sides seems extremely interested in me and Sunstreaker was warming up to me. I refused to believe that was the reasoning. Fate has her way. Plus, it was me who choose them to be my guardian, they only agreed.

Great, doubt filled my thoughts now. I groaned softly to myself and gently banged my head against the metal table. Dom chuckled at my misfortune of thoughts but I ignored him for good measure. Something deep within my heart wanted this to work out, in time of course. But the doubt slowing building up isn't helping.

"I didn't know our presence was that much unappreciated," Sides suddenly spoke up and startled me. I jumped up from my seat, nearly toppling my chair in the process.

"What? No, I was thinking… about things," I nervously replied and sat back down in my chair, acting like that didn't happen. Sides and Sunstreaker were standing next to each other with heavy shoulders, seeming a bit tired.

Sides carefully placed his arm on the railing and lean close to the two of us. "What kind of 'things'?" A charming smile appeared on his lips, brightening up his entire face. I couldn't help but feel the blood rushing to my face and letting the doubt ebb away.

"Nothing of concern but-" I should back up and pushed my chair in, stepping up to him-" it's getting late, could you take me home, please?" The red twin leaned in even closer to the point I could feel the exhales coming from him.

My checks still were hot from a few seconds before and his actions didn't help. "Maybe, if you give me a kiss on the side of my facial plates," he teased and his brother gave a glare, seeming a tad jealous. My eyes went wide as saucers and the blush covering my face grew to the tips of my ears. "Unless you don't want to." He was quick to save himself.

I rapidly thought about it before laying a swift kiss on his check and turned away, embarrassed. My mind screaming at me about my actions yet the butterflies in my stomach overruled them. Was it even possible for a twenty-nine year old get crushy feelings for another being? Well, there are two of them and that was a bit weird, especially for human nature.

The biggest smile grew on his face to show his happiness. "Payment accepted, let's get you home." Sunstreaker up and sent his red twin a hidden glare.

"You'll be riding with me this time," he butted in, leaving no room for an argument. Sides sent me a wink and leaned in even closer to point I could see in between his face plates and at the gears behind.

"He's jealous; but be careful, he's a bit more handsy then you think." With that, he stood straight and transformed smoothly into his alt. mode. What did that mean?!

Dom awkwardly cleared his throat to gain my attention. "I guess I'll see you later. Be careful with those two." We waved goodbye at each other before I ran down the steps of the cat walk onto ground level.

Sunstreaker pulled up in front of me with door open, forcing my hand to get inside of his alt. mode. What his twin said still rolled around in my head? He did look a little jealous of Sides asking for a kiss but he seems to know to give me time and space.

I decided glance at him from the corner of my eye for a couple of seconds. Sunstreaker turned his head a moment later and our eye met. We stared at each other for a little longer before he faced the road again.

The warmth building up in stomach faded away when he did, leaving me cold on the inside. A large hand wrapped around mine, making me jump from the sudden contact. The male next to me must of thought of the gesture was unwanted. He released my hand but I caught his hand in time and squeezed it, not making eye contact.

Yet, I could feel the smile coming from him. Sunstreaker returned the squeeze and continued to drive me home one handed, definitely not safe but I didn't want to let go. The warm feeling in my stomach was too great of a feeling.


	23. Chapter 23: Going Forward

The ringing of my phone brought me out of my thoughts. On the screen showed 'Tipps', causing worry to bubble in my stomach. It had been over a week since the attack from the Decepticons and she wasn't pleased with me.

Sadly, I had missed Cool Desert Nights again this year due to my injures and being stuck at the office. My side was feeling much better from the first couple of days, making me do paper work at home.

Before Tipps could get impatient of me answering her call, I pressed the answer button and put it up to my ear. "Hey, how's it going?" I started with and set down my pen.

"Not so great. Three Wardens have gotten the flu and are off-duty and we are short-handed as it is. If you feeling up to it, I need you to catch this supposedly sick Loon," Tipps offered. I was beyond excited to get back in the field.

Ratchet also put me on the injured list and made sure that I couldn't go out. But now, Tipps was allowing me back out in the real world. "Yes! Uh, I mean, yeah, sure, I'll see if my side is up for the task." I covered up excitement by acting cool and collected.

Uh huh, okay. I'll text you the address or at least the general area of where it was spotted." Then my sergeant ended the call yet still left me feeling jittery. This is what happens when you keep me in one area for two long.

Any 'normal' job of sitting at a desk for twelve hours wouldn't work for me. As a Game Warden, I'm able to move around as I please, seeing it fit to do so. That's why those years ago, it was my second as one, I hated when that stupid criminal shot me.

I was in the hospital for three days and at home for three weeks, unable to get out of the house much. Will and Sarah, bless their hearts, took me out and helped me get out of that depressing state. With that much time on your hands, it made me think I was never going back as a Warden.

Gladly the shot somehow missed all important organs in my body. It helped awaken the higher ups to get us bullet proof vest, knowing we also could get shot.

Without another thought about the paper on my desk, I hopped out of my chair and quickly changed into my work uniform. It felt good to be back in it, like it was meant for me to always wear it.

My hands snatched my warden truck keys and swung open the door. "I'm back on the force!" I cheered and rush to the green truck.

Right before my hand could grab the handle, a hand wrapped around my wrist. "Did Ratchet give clearance to go back to work?" Sunstreaker questioned sternly.

"Of course! He's too scary to defy. Either you two can follow me or stay home to watch the dogs. But you can't stop me." The smile on my face couldn't be turned upside down even if these two tried to stop me. Main word: tried.

It was a lie that Ratchet is allowing me to go back to work but what they didn't know, couldn't hurt them. I jumped up in my work truck and started the engine. "Brey-" Sunstreaker started.

"Sorry can't hear you!" I teased and tore out of the drive way like my life depended on it. There was no way I was going to let them stop me. Ratchet wasn't here to order me around and he shouldn't be allowed to do so. He's an alien and I'm a human.

In my rearview mirror, the two of them reversed so quickly that they spun up rocks and most likely scratching their paint. Within moments, they were on my tail and trailing closely. My phone buzzed again, meaning Tipps sent me where the sick Loon was.

"Hey Siri, check messages." The AI told me that Tipps had sent me a message and read it to me. It was north of Jay, the city I live in, near a town called Wilton and by a small pond. My phone buzzed, telling me someone was calling me, hopefully not Tipps.

I picked the call and put it on speaker so I could drive with both of my hands. "Hello?"

"You lied! Ratchet hasn't allowed you to go back on the job. Now turn your truck around and go back to your house," Sides voice came from the speaker.

"No, he isn't the boss of me. If Tipps deems me healed enough to catch a sick Loon then I'm fine. You and Sunstreaker can follow me or go back, it's up to you. But you can't tell what I can or I can't do, you know that. I'm sorry you two but I'm fulfilling my oath as a Game Warden." I hung up on the two and threw my phone into the passenger seat.

It rang again, the two behind me most likely calling me back. This time, I didn't answer and ignored my phone completely.

The yellow Lamborghini gunned his engine before speeding past me and stopping in front of me. I growled in anger and stepped on my brakes as hard as possible so my truck didn't hit him. "You motherfucker."

Now, I was beyond pissed with the twins, especially the yellow one. I hopped out of my truck, slammed the door shut, and stomped over to him. "What bright idea was going through your head?! I could've hit you for the love God!" I snarled and slammed my fist on the trunk of his alt. mode.

Thankfully, he didn't react to me touching him and had his holoform step out. "If you would have listened to us instead of running off, then I wouldn't have to do that." Sunstreaker slowly advanced on me, causing me to match his steps of walking backwards.

"The base has spotted a massive fleet of jets heading in this direction and they're not your human military jets. These are Decepticons heading in this direction." The holoform continued advancing on me, scaring me a little bit on his unknown reason of doing this.

A dribble of fear could be seen in my eyes as my back made contact with the front of my truck. "You already had two bad run-ins with those slagging Cons. Both nearly got you offlined! If you haven't seen it yet, we care for you. So you aren't going to this sick Loon over our offlined frames."

His face was so close now our breaths mingled and our noses touched. Both of his arms kept me from stepping to the side to get away from him but for some reason, I didn't mind. Without realizing it, I timidly wrapped my arms around his neck and had to stop myself from kissing his lips.

"I believe you should give me a kiss, evening the score," he muttered. The blue in his holoform eyes seemed to be even brighter then I have ever seen them.

My breath hitched quietly in my throat due to his words. Is he talking about his lips or his check? Because I kissed Sides on his check. Two inner voices, one from my heart, the other from my mind, were fighting over whether or not to follow through.

Just do it, what's the worst that could happen, my heart uttered. You could end up like your mother, found in a ditch, dead, my mind hissed.

The inner battle continued until I groaned inwardly and leaned forward. Before our lips could make contact, a vehicle laid down their horn behind us. Sunstreaker growled dangerously in anger and moved away to see who it was.

"Move it, you dumbasses!" a male voice came from behind me. It wasn't Sides by the sound of it. I followed behind Sunstreaker and saw a tan Chevy Tahoe stopped behind Sides alt. mode.

By the look on Sunstreaker's face, he was about to murder this poor human. "Sunn-streaker, let me deal with him. We are parked in the middle of the road," I offered the raging mech. His lip was pulled up into a snarl and a murderous look in his eyes.

He snapped his head to face me and his expression changed to somewhat calm. "Doesn't give him a right to call you a dumbass," he hissed.

"I'll go up to him apologize and we'll head home, okay? I'll call Tipps to send one of the boys over to deal with the sick Loon." He glared at the man before stomping back to his alt. mode and slipping in smoothly.

I sighed before strolling up to the male with an apologetic smile on my face. He noticed my uniform and his face changed from anger to surprise. "I'm sorry, sir. We'll get out of your way. Have a nice day."

"Ye-yeah, you too." I nodded and walked back to my truck until a special red demon decided to stop me.

"So? We going to continue what started back at home?" A large smirk was plastered on his face and he barked a laugh at my receding form. I scrambled into my truck so the two couldn't see the blush growing on my face and pulled around the yellow Lambo. The three of us made a U-turn on a side road and began to head home.

My checks were still burning by the time I pulled up in front of the 'Ford only parking' sign. Then I remembered to call Tipps and tell her I couldn't go, my ribs were still hurting, which was the truth.

I hopped out of the truck and made it into my humble house with the twins on my tail. Gladly the dogs made their appearance and come bounding up to the three of us. Their tails were wags, especially Vivi's, her entire body was wagging with her tail.

"Hey, you two. Were you good while I was gone?"

Even standing three feet apart from the other pair, I could feel them being excited behind me. They would have to wait because the dogs were in need of some cuddles. "Come on you two, you wanna cuddle?"

"Yes!" Sides cheered happily and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling snug against his chest. All the muscles in my body tensed up from the sudden contact with him.

"Sides, I don't think she was talking to us," Sunstreaker pointed out. The red mech's attitude deflated and his arms hung loosely around my waist. Now, I felt bad of ruining Sides happy moment and decided to let them have their cuddles with me.

"I wasn't talking about you guys but you've changed my mind." Sides tightened his grip around my waist again and this time, gently kissed the side of my neck. A shiver went down my spine in reaction. He decided to do again, earning another shiver from me.

It was something different that I haven't felt in years with anyone. It wasn't them just being physical about it. They truly cared about me, giving me time to slowly adjust to them. For human nature, it wasn't 'right' to have two partners but things change.

"You like that?" Sides huskily questioned with his mouth right next to my ear. I barely nodded my head, unable to deny the fact his kisses felt good. His breath blew past my ear, earning him another shiver from me. I timidly grabbed his hand, carefully forced him to release his hold around me, and held it in my grasp. Time to test a few things with him and his brother.

Sunstreaker was standing off to the side, silently watching what was going down between his twin and I. With Sides hand still in mine, I carefully grabbed his brother's and pulled them up the stairs towards my room.

The two of them didn't say a word to me and allowed for me drag them behind me. Once the three of us made it my room, I kicked off my shoes, laid down on my bed, and patted both sides of me.

A huge smile grew on Sides face and he was the first to snuggle up to the side of me. Sunstreaker gave me a 'are you sure?' look to which warmed my heart at him asking. I nodded my head and scooted into Sides side a little bit more for Sunstreaker to have some room.

The yellow twin crawled to the other side of me laid himself down next to me. "So I saw you were going to kiss Sunny on his dermas… You going to continue that and give me the same treatment?" Sides spoke up. A red blush covered my cheeks at the mention of that. He saw that?!

"I-uh," I stuttered, trying to find words to explain that without seeming rude to Sunstreaker.

"We were rudely interrupted by the meatbag," Sunstreaker commented but made no movement to continue what we started, gladly. The blush on my face only darkened at the mention of the person who almost saw me kiss them.

For fuck sake, I'm twenty-nine years old and shouldn't be acting like a teenager in middle school. I already knew they care for and like me. Just get over your fears. If they try anything, a shout for my dogs and they tear these two into pieces. Kodiak and Vivian care for me deeply, more than anyone in my entire life and will protect me with their life. There's also a pistol in my nightstand if need be.

Thoughts were running wild in my head and started to over think every bad thing that could happen with letting them in. Why did I have to be this way? Why did my mom turn me into this person that is fearful of love? A little thing called love is what I'm afraid of. Cons wouldn't scare me as much as love.

A groan escaped my throat. I completely forgot that the twins were lying next to me. "We're not that bad, are we?" Sides questioned, voice a little smaller as if he was afraid himself. I shot up to sit on my knees to gaze down at the two.

Stupid brain, idiotic me. "No-no-no-no, I started to think about one thing but my brain then went to another thought. Fuck, I wish I could stop thinking for a few minutes," I changed the subject accidently but random ideas were popping into my head.

That wish would never be fulfilled, I was born and raised to be this way. I knew every exit in a building; if anyone gave a bad vibe and what their stance is; what weapons were the closest.

Sides timidly grabbed my clenched hand and placed it on top of his head. "If you're going to clench your hands, then do it to my hair," he joked and smirked sexily. My cheeks burned red at his comment. I didn't move my hand though and twiddled with it, helping me calm down.

"Your hair is soft," I muttered, embarrassed about the situation but liking it at the same time. The red twin chuckled and gleamed in pride by puffing his chest out. He was most likely trying to tease his brother.

It seemed to be working as Sunstreaker rolled his eyes and flicked him in the nose. Sides yelped in surprised and reeled back, my hand no longer in reach of his hair. My anxiety had already fallen back to normal so I shrugged my shoulders laid back down between the two.

I crossed my arms to use a pillow and turned my head to gaze up at Sunstreaker who was on my right. The smallest of smiles appeared on his lips and he rested his back against the headboard where a few of my books are stored. His position didn't look comfortable in the slightest.

This might work out for the three of us.


	24. Chapter 24: Injury and Affection

Someone was shaking me out of my sleep. "Brey, get up! We need to go now!" Sides urgently said. I sat up immediately and kicked whoever was the closest to me in reaction. The yellow twin was the closest and received the bottom of my foot to his lower abdomen.

The holoform lurched backwards from the force and groaned painfully. I scrambled off the bed the next second, guilt swelling inside of me. "I am so sorry!" I apologized and leaned down to his bent over level. He waved me off and straightened his posture.

Sides grabbed my wrist and started to drag me out of my room. Confusion flooded my brain on why he was acting this way. At first, my mind thought to pull away and demand what he was doing but something told me to trust them. I allowed the red twin to continue to drag me out of the house and towards their alt. modes.

His brother was trailing behind us. On the way out, he called for the dogs and they came to his calling, also following us to their alt. modes. What in the hell was going on?

I was sat in the passenger side of the yellow Lamborghini by the red twin. He dissolved in a shimmering fall of sparkles and gunned his engine in a quick start. Sunstreaker got the dogs into his brother alt. mode before following suit of disappearing.

The bot I was with peeled out of the gravel drive, ignoring the rocks most likely pelting his undercarriage. I finally noticed the tail lights of a familiar black GMC truck turning onto the main road and that it was pitch black outside. It was the middle of the night and these two were dragging me out of my house without telling me what was going on.

With the unknown and crazy situation happening, there was no way I was going to be able to sleep until they explain to me. "Sunstreaker-" a yawn escaped my lips-" what's going on? Where are you taking me?" I question tiredly.

For a few moments, the frontliner didn't speak a sound. The only noise in his cab was his engine and tires gripping the cold asphalt. "Cons have attacked a nearby energon mine. We didn't want to leave you behind with no protection so we're taking you to the base for your safety," he explained.

It sounded like an okay reason to wake me up at… I glanced at the clock on his dashboard. Two A.M! Now that peeved me off a little, I have work in the morning and they are deciding to drag me to the base this early in the morning.

They care for me though. That's what happens when someone cares for you, they will do everything in their power to protect you from danger.

The leather seat under me warmed up. I groaned thankfully and leaned against the warming seat, savoring the heat. "You can recharge if you would like."

"I won't be able too." Even though he did answer my question, all this movement will prevent me from falling back to asleep. "Thanks for caring for me, though. It means a lot to me."

"We care for you more then I would like to but you're an acceptable human to be around, I guess." I'm placing my bet that's the best complement I'm going to get out of him.

"Aww, so cute. Told you she wasn't as bad as you thought." And Sides had to ruin the lovely moment with that comment. Eh, I still like the both of them anyhow.

Within a good twenty minutes of fast driving, the five of us, including the dogs, made it to the base. Instead of dropping me off right then and there to join the group of preparing soldiers, they continued to drive towards the back part of the base. Where were they taking me?

Sunstreaker stopped in front of a large hangar, not even a fraction of the size of the main hangar. The passenger side door folded upwards smoothly and allowed me to exit the beautiful vehicle.

Fridge cold air hit me hard. I shiver from it and crossed my arms to enclose the rest of the heat my body was producing. Next to me, Sunstreaker transformed swiftly and stepped up to the closed hangar door. Sides let the dogs out and also changed to his bipedal form to stand next to his brother.

A beep sounded from the door after Sunstreaker punched in some sort of code into a key pad way too tall for me to reach. The two of them entered the room and motioned for me to follow. I called for the dogs and trailed behind him with the dogs at my side.

Vivian raced off from my side and ran after her favorite twin, being careful of his large size. Kodiak also gave chase of his favorite of the two and trotted timidly at his side. I snorted quietly from their antics and playfully rolled my eyes.

Sides stopped and turned around to face us after all of us were in the smaller hangar. A sheepish look was on his face like he did something wrong that I didn't know of us. "So, we weren't really allowed to bring you to the base. That means we have to hide you in our berthroom once the coast is clear of Cons," he explained and rubbed the back of his neck.

My eyes widened in worry and shock. "But don't worry, you'll be fine here. We'll go check it out and be back here before you even know it!" Sides was trying to make the situation seem less risky of bring me here without permission from any of the higher ups.

The two started to make their way of the hangar, or now named their berthroom. "Don't do anything stupid while you're in here," Sunstreaker warned and pointed his digit at me. Though, it seemed there wasn't much of a threat behind his words or actions.

With that, they left me here, in their room, with my dogs and no way of getting out. Fuck. Maybe I could go back to asleep and hope this gets done before my shift begins. But that means someone who knows the code could come in here and see me where I'm not supposed to be.

Exhaustion over took me both mentally and physically after being awake for sometime. I scanned the dark room for any place to comfortably sleep on or for at least a blanket. In the hangar, it seemed there was no suitable area for a person to rest upon. All of the things were way too big for my smaller size compared to their larger frames.

I was resting my back against the wall ten feet away from the door, waiting for the return of the twins. Kodiak has positioned himself in his normal place on my shins while his sister had her head resting on my thighs. I was gently petting the area between her ears and trying to ignoring the tiredness catching up.

The longer they were gone, the more I felt unease about the whole situation. Worry was eating me alive about sitting here with no way of calling them or checking up on them. I have seen them in action while battling Decepticons before but this felt different. Something was wrong, that was a fact.

There was something about this that didn't settle well with my stomach. I despised the feeling, especially it being with the twins. I didn't like caring for people because bad things always happen in my life, sometimes to those people. What if they get stuck in the mine or it falls on them?

No one knows, besides the twins, that I'm in here. No one would come in here to check up on me because they don't know. The key pad was too tall for me to reach. First of all, I didn't have a clue what the code was to get out of here.

Stupid mechs. I wished they allowed for me to have my phone to call for help if they didn't come back in a mannerly fashion. Or they could forget about me to go on their daily lives? No, that's idiotic. They care about me and wouldn't do that. Would they?

Shut up! Brain, no more thinking. This is what happens when you leave me in a room alone for long periods of time. Thoughts run wild inside of my mind while having too much time to myself.

The dogs resting on legs were long asleep, lucky bastards. My eyelids were drooping from how tired I was but my stubbornness wouldn't let me fall back to asleep like these two have.

Later on, when the sun was just starting to brightening up the sky, the rumbling of engines caught my attention. Both of the dogs sat up at the growing noise outside and stood to their four paws. I got to my feet and stretched out my tightening muscles from sitting down for too long.

I stood off to the side of the door, standing there waiting for them to come and take me back. Except that never happened. Cars did pass by the hangar but none of them the familiar sound of the two Lamborghini's. Where were they?

My anxiety began to rise the longer I stood there, hoping for their return. Worry started up again, eating me up inside. I couldn't stop myself and began to pace near the door, thinking over what could have happened and why they haven't came back.

Kodiak and Vivian could sense the distress most likely coming off in waves. Kodi jumped up on me to stop me but I only pushed him off and continued to worry like a mother. Vivian stopped in front of me to get me to pet her, I didn't fall for her tricks and stepped around her.

Did they get hurt while on the mission? Did they get in trouble and sent to timeout? Did they finally realize I wasn't their type? Do they no longer want to be around me? What did I do to push them away? Why am I an idiot for thinking I could be in a relationship with aliens? Do I want to have a relationship with them?

Why would they even like me? Sides likes to break the law and prank others. I'm an officer of the law. Those two don't mix well or at all. I'm also boring, I usually stay in my house or go to work. To which Sarah and Will have said to me, 'I work too much and need to take more time off'.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. Why do I care for them as much as I do? I learned a long time ago never to trust someone or else they'll leave you high and dry. That was already fucked up. A few I have trusted are Sarah, Will, Zeke, Dominick, Annabelle, and Talia.

A noise of loud pedesteps sounding like they were heading this way caught my attention. I wiped away the tears and waited patient off to the side. Hopefully this was them because I didn't know how much longer until my thoughts went way out of control.

The keypad beeped at one of the twins putting in the code. The hangar door rolled open to reveal not-so-pleased Prowl. A scowl was etched into his face as he gazed down to the three of us. "Those idiotic pair. Come on, Aubrey," Prowl motioned for me to follow without explaining why he was the one to fetch me.

Were they in trouble and told Prowl about me? At least I wasn't stuck in their room for any longer. I turned to the dogs who were eager to get out of here as much as I want and told them to stay. Prowl didn't tell me where he was taking me and it could be dangerous for them. I jogged after him and followed him to wherever he was taking me.

Prowl stopped in front of another hangar, bigger than the twins' room yet much smaller than the main hangar. "Wait here." I stood in my spot when he said that and stared at his retreating form entering the unknown hangar.

It familiar to me on the position and size. There was an extension to the right that was human height. Wait a minute, this was the Med. Bay! Then why did Prowl take me here? I wasn't injured… The twins! Did they get hurt while out on their mission? Shit, please be okay, please be okay. I repeated that sentence until the police bot came back into view.

"Come along but don't touch anything," he warned. I nodded my head, trotted into the large Med. Bay, and scanned over the room, looking for the two. "You must be wondering why I took you here instead of taking you back home." That was an understatement.

"Unknowingly to us, we didn't know that you were hidden away in the Terror Twins berthroom after they were called to duty. Unfortunately, Sideswipe was injured by a Con during the battle. The wound was close to his spark chamber but being him, he continued to fight on side-by-side with his twin. This resulted in the wound getting worse and closer to his spark until, at the end of the battle, he dropped nearly offline."

"His twin following a few seconds later since they are spark split twins. Ratchet was able to get Sideswipe stable but into a forced statis. Sunstreaker regained conscience a little bit after we got back and alerted Ratchet you were in their berthroom. Sideswipe is still in forced statis until cleared by Ratchet. Sunstreaker is online but weak due to his twin."

During his explaining, I kept quiet and thought over very word he said. That stupid mech getting himself hurt in battle. I realized my nails were digging into the palm of my hand and causing trickles of blood to come from the small cuts. What have you two done to me?

Prowl led me over to the back of the hangar where a huge curtain was blocking a part of from the rest of us. He opened it and revealed Sideswipe and Sunstreaker laying on two large slabs of metal. The yellow twin was holding his brother's servo even though Sides wasn't awake by the sounds of it.

A gasp escaped me at the sight of the two. Wires were hooked up to the injured twin, most likely reading his vitals. The yellow twin heard the gasp and turned his attention to the two of us. Relief seemed to grow in his optics at the sight of me.

Pain seemed to be swirling inside of his optics. I don't blame him though, his brother has been terribly injured and Sunstreaker can only sit there and pray.

With his freehand, Sunstreaker motioned for me come closer weakly. I glanced up at Prowl for a moment before timidly making my way over to him and stopping where I could still see his face. He motioned for me to come closer.

I confusingly gazed up at him and walked closer to the point we couldn't see each other. Sunstreaker reached down with his servo and scoped me off the ground. A yelp escaped me in surprise of the sudden movement. I gripped onto his digits like my life depended on it and stopped myself from puking.

Sunstreaker deposited me on his chassis and jerked his head towards Sides quiet form. "Go, he needs you," he said. How in the hell was I going to get over to where he was? Their hands were linked between the two. That was the only safe I could reach the injured mech.

This is going to get me killed, won't it? A sigh passed my lips at just the thought. I risked a glance behind at the yellow mech. Sunstreaker was watching me carefully. I suppressed a shiver and timidly started to step onto his arm with balance.

Luckily, I wasn't afraid of heights or falling from heights, just the sudden stop at the end and the bouncing of your body. My foot had slipped a couple of times on the way over to the injured twin. Each time, Sunstreaker would tense up and ready himself to catch me.

After what felt like hours, I made it to where Sides was and stopped on top of his chassis. His wound was on the left side of his body and I made sure to be extra careful going anywhere near his upper body. I turned my attention back to Sunstreaker, nervous about what to do. What was I supposed to do?

"Sit up by his spark." My eyes widen in shock at his words. That's right next to where he was hurt.

"But what about his injury?" I questioned, concerned about making it worse for the red twin.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics and chuckled quietly. "You human aren't going to hurt him anymore than he already is." My eyes were wide like how a deer would look like, fearful of what my clumsy self could do to him. "Just sit down on his chassis."

With one more glance in his direction, I sat down carefully on the sleeping red twin and stared intently at the missing plating. For access to the wound, Ratchet had taken off his armor and exposed that part of his frame. I gently ran my fingers on the edge of the plating and listened to the soft humming coming from his chassis. Please be okay.

Time passed by and my job long forgotten the moment Prowl had told me about the two. My eyelids dropped once more from being up later than usual. This time, I didn't fight it and lied down somewhat comfortably on the red twin. I tucked my arms under my chin and turned my head to the side, peeking at Sunstreaker. He seemed to have gone to sleep or whatever it's called for them.

For the second time today, I was rudely awakened from my sleep by a not-so-happy medic. "She shouldn't be anywhere near Sides injure. Energon isn't good for humans in any shape or form," Ratchet argued to an unknown being. I groaned tiredly and curled tighter into a ball.

"It's helping him. Sides may not be awake but he can tell from me she is near. Her presence is keeping him at ease," Sunstreaker grunted out. I sat up after hearing his voice and rubbed my eyes to gaze over at him. Our eyes met for a few seconds, distress evident in his optics. I smiled kindly at him to reassure the fretting brother.

Ratchet scoffed but knew he was cornered in this invisible battle. "Fine, she can stay but she can't go near him. She'll have to stay with you."

Sunstreaker disagreed with the medic. "No, he wants to be in contact with her." Just like what Sides wanted, I kind of liked to stay sitting on his chassis. He was warm compared to the cold outside and I would worry too much over him.

The medic seemed like he wanted to continue to argue with the yellow mech, both being stubborn about this. But he laid down his weapons, not literally, and left the three of us to our own devices. A question raised inside of me: could Sunstreaker tell what Sides was wanting even though he was asleep?

"Spit it out," his rough tone had toned down from his conversation with Ratchet. Would my question seem like an intrusion of their privacy? It kind of seemed like it would.

"N-never mind," I rejected and drew patterns on the ruined paint job of Sides armor. Things were going somewhat okay since this has happened and I didn't want to ruin it with a stupid question.

"Just say it." Thankfully, Sunstreaker didn't sound like he was getting agitated with me. But since he really wants to know…

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to but… can you actually tell what Sides wants even though he was asleep?" It felt like I was going to explode from the anxiety growing just from saying that.

"Yes, I can. And he's in statis, forced statis until Ratchet deems him stable enough to bring him out. We're spark-split twins, we know nearly everything about each other. That's how Sides got me to like you, you aren't half bad," he teased slightly. That's first time he's ever done that to me, hmm.

Another question struck up inside of me. "Do you actually like me or is that Sides forcing you to?" A small part of me hoping that wasn't the case. From the sounds of it, that was most likely the truth. Why would anyone like me? To many people's eyes, I'm boring and I like to have a plan or schedule.

Sunstreaker gave me a look that read 'did you just say that?' and rolled his optics. "Primus, femme. Sides isn't forcing me to do anything. I like you for you. Let's just say I like you more than any of the humans on this mud ball of a planet."

Unintentionally, a shy smile it to my lips at his comment. "Well, you know, I thought he was making you like me-" Sunstreaker interrupted my talking by scooping me off his brother's chassis and holding me carefully in his grasp. I yelped in shock from the sudden movement and clutched onto his digit in reaction.

The mech held my body at optic level with him, a stern look on his face plates. "Just stop it. I like you for being you. No one in the whole universe could force me to do something that I didn't want to do. Sides knows that more than anyone." He sighed and, something extremely out of character for him, gently kissed the top of my head. "See? I care about you."

A blush grew on my lips when he did that. It felt weird since his lips are made of metal and they were warm compared to the cold temperature. "Okay, I get it, I get it," I responded and hid the blood rushing to my cheeks from his actions.

He set me down on the metal slab he was sitting on. "You owe me a buffing," he commented out of the blue.

"What? Why?!" I said dumbfounded on why I owe him a waxing. Sunstreaker outstretched his arm and pointed towards a small scuff mark on the underside of it. That was the arm I had used to cross between the two.

"Because of that." The smallest mark from my shoe was what he was mad about, well he didn't seem to disturbed about it.

"It was the only way to get over to Sides! I'm not twenty feet tall and made of metal," I argued and rolled my eyes at him. It was the truth though, there wasn't a latter to reach his brother.

"Or you could grow bigger and climb onto the berth, not having to use our arms as a bridge." In his voice, there was a hint of teasing in it, meaning he was only playing.

I scoffed at him and crossed my arms over my chest. "Sure, yeah. Let me go against all human physics and grow an extra twenty feet so I could get next to Sides." The tiniest of smiles grew on his face at my comment.


	25. Chapter 25: Healing

The sun continued to rise on this cold day, colder than the rest of the days of this week. Sides was still in statis for his own good until Ratchet takes him out.

In the Med. Bay, it's only been the three of us most of the time with the medic sometimes coming in our small area to check up on Sides. Sunstreaker had lied down a while back after sitting up for too long was draining him of his energy. With his brother out of it, the yellow twin couldn't go far without passing out.

Inside of the hangar wasn't too warm for human standards when the door gets opened a few times and releasing all the pent up heated air. The only heat source for me was Sunstreaker's armor but it was made of metal, meaning it quickly lost the warmth.

A shiver raked my body after sitting here for too long with no constant heat source. The logical side of my brain told me I needed to get somewhere warm or have at least a jacket on. It doesn't help I was wearing a tank top with no bra and basketball shorts on in forty to fifty degrees weather. My caring side was saying to suck it up and wait until Sides is at least awake.

From what Sunstreaker has said, Sides could tell from him if I was near or far from him. He would most likely freak if I left to go get a jacket or blanket. Where would I even get one? Will probably knows of my presences now after Prowl had fetched me from the twins room. Could I somehow get him to get me one?

Another shiver ran down the length of my back. Don't get me wrong, I loved the cold if only I was wearing the proper clothing not my sleepwear. "You cold?" Sunstreaker's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I gazed where his blue optics were staring at my shaking form and nodded my head. Sunstreaker sat up carefully as I was on his chassis and rested his back against the hangar wall. I could he was hurting and didn't want him to push himself because of me. "Wait! I'm fine. You don't have to strain yourself."

Sunstreaker scoffed and rolled his optics too. "You're not. You humans cannot stand the cold for long. You're also not wear proper clothing to protect you from the cold. And I'm not straining myself," he grunted out and used his servo as a plat form for me to stand on.

It was a little bit warmer than being exposed to the elements. I leaned against the plating on his chassis, closer to his spark where it was the warmest, and sighed in content.

Our little moment was broken by the curtain blocking us from the rest of the bay was opened by a special police bot. Prowl didn't seem fazed about the two of us cuddling and took a step past the curtain. "Aubrey, you no longer have to worry about going to work for the next three earth days. I have talked to your lieutenant and pulled some strings to allow you time with the twins."

"I totally forgot about work," I chuckled nervously. It was the truth though, Sides being injured had taken over my mind which was surprising. Work was the number one priority in my brain compared to everything else in my life, besides my dogs. Kodiak and Vivian are still in the twins berthroom! "I need to go get my dogs from their room."

"I wouldn't be surprised with everything going on. Come with me then, we can go get them," Prowl offered. Sunstreaker's frame tensed and he pulled me closer towards him, clearly showing his displeasure of me leaving.

"No, she's staying," he laid down the rules. His optics trained solely on Prowl, flickers of protectiveness flashing in them. It was best not to get in between the two, or at least not in front of Sunstreaker. He was doing his normal protective thing I have seen him do with his brother.

Prowl rolled his optics but sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll go get them for you. What were their designations again?" They're most like going to hunt me down in the entire base to find me and not follow any of his orders. Good luck, Prowl.

"Kodiak and Vivian. Kodiak is the big black husky mix and Vivian is the small white and brindle Pitbull mix," I answered and hoped the two would listen to the bot. Knowing my lucky, the two of them would run off before he could get a word out once the hangar door is opened.

The black and white mech left us alone to go retrieve my animals. Sunstreaker relaxed his tensed frame and still held me close to his chassis. "Slagger thinking he could take you away from us," he growled and huffed out a large vent.

I peeked up at the yellow bot with unease at his sentence, feeling like he was trying to completely claim me. If it was like marriage-ish kind of way, I would accept it but the way he was saying it, sounded weird to me. "Let's not go that far," I warned him. "You know how I feel about that kind of thing."

Sunstreaker seemed like he wanted to scoff at my words and brush me off but reframed from it. "Sorry. We don't like you leaving us. Sides would start to freak out," he explained and set me down on the large plat form.

Now I felt bad about my actions and stepped up to his thigh. I placed my hand on his dirty finish and peered up at the large mech with regret. "I'm sorry, I need to get use to your protectiveness. Could you also hold me again? It's cold in here," I questioned shyly and timidly pushed my shoulders up.

He shook his head with a grin on his lips and scooped me carefully back up in his servos. With his other hand, he gently patted the top of my head. "Happy, now?" he teased. I nodded my head and leaned against his warm chassis, savoring the heat.

The sound of clicking nails caught my attention. I knew in an instant who, or what, was coming our way and couldn't help the smile growing on my face.

Prowl was in hot pursuit of the two dogs running at full speed from the crack between the curtains. The dogs seemed to be winning this race being four legged against a twenty foot tall alien robot. It would make sense though if you thought about it. "Get back here, slaggers."

By the sounds of it, Prowl wasn't pleased with them from the tone of voice and choice of words. A laugh escaped me at his words towards my dogs. This wasn't a serious situation where I would have to jump a good ten feet to save them.

When the two troublemakers passed the entrance of the Med, Bay, Prowl stopped in his tracks and released a deep sigh in irritation. He waved his servo dismissively and left the two on their own.

Said two had trotted over to the bottom of the metal slab and sat down heavily. Their heavy breathes created clouds of fog which disappeared quickly. Kodiak started to whine like he did when he was younger and padded over to where Sides was laying still knocked out. "I know, Kods. I'm worry about him too but he'll be better in no time."

At the sound of my voice, Kodiak perked up immediately and peered at me from his position down on the ground. His tail started to wag but his attention was drawn back to the red twin. The two of them must have grown a bond with each other.

A pang of jealousy hit me at the thought of Kodiak and Sides becoming close. It's okay, Aubrey, Sides would never take away Kodiak from you. If he ever tried though, he'll be turned into a fucking toaster before he can say crap.

"Could you put me down real quick? I'm just going to say hi to them." Sunstreaker nodded his head with no hesitation, luckily for me, and set me down on the ground. Vivian was the nearest and the first to reach me in full force.

Her muscle body crashed into mine and thankfully she wasn't able to take me down. We would have had a problem with that; she would be in trouble for jumping and pushing me to the ground. Kodiak on the other hand reached me a couple of seconds later and came full force towards me.

All of his one-hundred and fifty or so body crashed straight into me knocked me off of my feet with no problem. I yelped from the sudden weight and fell backwards onto my butt. The two of them assaulted me with kisses and nips from Vivian.

After being nearly suffocated by their slobber, I pushed the two away and scrambled to my feet. With a stern finger pointed towards them, I scowled angrily down at the puppies and wiped off the slobber form my face. "Bad boy! Don't jump on me ever again." Having them suffocate was the least of my worries; jumping on me was a different story.

Once I take the two out again into the public, they could possibly jump on a kid or elderly person and seriously injure them. That's why I teach them jumping isn't a good thing, even if they are excited.

The black mix dipped his head down in shame and his tail no longer wagged. I felt a tiny bit guilt of causing him to do that but he needed to learn that jumping on me or anyone wasn't good. "Lay down," I ordered sternly. He followed my order slowly, still not looking me in the eye. Which was a good thing, he knew who was the leader of this trio.

I went to lay down on the concrete and sprung up when my hand made contact with it. The floor was freezing to the touch. No way was I laying on that, neither should Kodiak. "Okay, you're fine." He got to his four paws and stared up at me, waiting for my next command.

Should have thought about this before allowing for Prowl to bring them in here. Would Ratchet have some sort of blanket I could put done for them to lay on to protect them from the cold? Kodi maybe part Husky and have a thick coat but it still doesn't mean he should be lying in the ground.

Would Sunstreaker know if there some blankets in here? I turn my gaze to the yellow bot watching me intently from his spot on the metal platform. "Hey, Sunstreaker. Do you know if Ratchet keeps any blankets in here? It's too cold for the dogs to be laying on the ground."

"Not necessarily blankets but they are thick enough to keep the cold from reaching them." Sunstreaker wearily got off the massive table and lumbered over to one of the many desks their size. The mech pulled out a gray blanket from a draw and dropped it down in front of me.

From the way he was moving, his frame was taking a toll with his brother being both injured and knock out. I felt bad for somewhat making him move to get me something I could have gotten, most likely. "Thank you. Though I could have got it for myself… Are you alright?"

"I would like to see you grow to my size and grab that for yourself. And… not really. Sides is getting better from what I can feel but it's straining on the two of us." I dipped my head, understanding what he was saying and spread out the thick blanket he gave me.

The dogs hopped onto the blanket excitedly. I hoped that Kodiak wouldn't do his normal thing and decide it was a threat towards me. If that would happened, he would rip it off of me and start tearing into it like an enemy.

Once the two were settled on the fabric and out of the way of Ratchet, I strolled to the edge of the thing Sunstreaker was on and made a grabby motion with my hands. Sunstreaker gave me a 'seriously' look before picking me off the ground once more and holding me close to him.

A smile grew to my lips at the close contact with the iron giant that I somehow stole his spark, er, at least caught his optic/eye. I couldn't wait for Sides to be awake and back to his normal self. This was going well, hopefully I didn't fuck it up like what usually happens.

Ratchet pushed the curtains to the side as he entered our little corner of the Med. Bay. A glare was set in my direction. "What are you still doing here?"

Confused on why he was acting this way, I tilted my head to the side like a lost puppy. "What do you mean?"

"You should be getting dinner as it that time for you humans." I made a 'oh' face at the mention of food. Time had been flying by and it was already dinner. This entire day, I haven't had anything to eat or drink which is why I was thirsty.

"Oh, yes, food. Uh, I forgot about that." I scratched the back of my neck nervously, knowing he wasn't going to be happy.

The plating around his nose flared outward, showing his anger. "How do you forget about a necessity like that?! William and Sarah have alerted me of your predicament." Ratchet had hardened his voice for the word predicament. Oh shit, now I was in trouble.

"What predicament?" Sunstreaker cut into our conversation, sounding a little worried.

"She likes to starve herself." Ratchet was making sound worse than it is.

"What?!" the yellow mech revved angrily and stared down at me with his brows furrowed.

"Well-no! It's not like that. If I don't feel hungry then I don't eat. My brain isn't telling me that I'm hungry so then I don't have to worry about that," I explained with a weak truth but it was the truth to me.

Ratchet's glare deepened at my reason. "That doesn't make it better. Missing a course when you know you need to have isn't healthy. From what I have heard, you didn't eat for three days straight." What I really wanted to say to him was that wasn't the truth to me but whatever.

"That last one, I was working on a case that needed my full attention."

"I'm ready to pull you off the force if you continue to do that." My eyes widened in shock and fear from his words. There was no way he could do that, could he?

"You can't do that. You don't have any jurisdiction over me!" Who did he think he was saying that to me? I was my own person and he couldn't do shit about it, neither could the twins.

"Oh yes I can. Prowl was able to get you three days off but I can extend that till forever or at least until you are on eating on a healthy schedule." Well, shit. I knew at this moment I was backed into a corner and didn't have a way to get out.

"What will I have to do to get you off of my tail?" I wasn't pleased with his threat but knew he could fulfill it if he wanted to. My voice expressed my anger about this situation. If he fucking dared to take me off the force, I swear to any god that would listen to me I would hurt him.

"Simple: eat more. I'll take you to the cafeteria after I check up on Sideswipe's vitals." Ratchet strolled over to the red bot still in statis and seemed to scan over his frame. He hummed and nodded his head thoughtfully. "He's healing well. He's also well enough to bring him out of his forced statis."

Sunstreaker perked up at his words and an ecstatic smile graced his lips. I couldn't help the one that also took over mine. Sides is getting better quickly, their healing factor much faster than ours. A human could never heal as fast as that, we could only dream for that.

Ratchet didn't say anymore and started to do his thing. None of it I understood being it was alien to me.

Sides's optics powered on slowly, like a computer that has been shut off for too long. He groaned painfully and raised his servo to his helm, lightly touching. "Remind me never to get slagged over by a fragging Con," he cracked a joke a few seconds after being brought out of statis.

His brother hopped to his pedes with me still in his grasp and stood next to him. Sunstreaker flicked his brother's nose like how true siblings would do. Sides sat up carefully, being mindful of his injured shoulder and area near his spark. "Hey! Why did you do that?" Sides whined.

The yellow brother set me down on the ground to the left of him and hugged his brother tightly. The corners of my mouth tipped up at the interaction of the twins. Instead of standing there like a weirdo would do, I snuck over to where the dogs were and petted the two of them. I was glad Sides was awake and getting better since his tumble with the Decepticons.

For a moment, I thought I was safe away from the Autobot's medic, main word is thought. Suddenly, my body was scooped up from the cold floor and grasped carefully in a freezing servo. "You're coming with me. Don't think for a moment you were able to get away."

Ratchet's servo was freezing to the touch, especially on my exposed legs. To the right of me, the twins finally noticed the medic taking me away from them. Sunstreaker turned around and glared daggers at him. "Where are you taking her?" his voice low and dangerous sounding.

"She needs to eat proper and healthy food," Ratchet answered, not at all imitated by the yellow twin's actions, and turned to walk out the hangar doors. "Don't try to stop me. We all know she needs this. It doesn't help that you two kept her with you all day."

Technically that was my fault. I wanted to their side just in case something happened while out and about. The dogs took note of my forced leaving form and gave chase after Ratchet. Said bot didn't give them much thought and ignored them staring intently at him.

To my surprise, neither of the twins rushed after the two of us. Maybe they took his words to heart, Sunstreaker knowing about how I am with remembering to eat. It wasn't my fault though, I just didn't believe eating all three courses was important.

The medic dropped me off at the entrance of the cafeteria where Will was standing. Thankfully for me, he was holding a thick jacket and a pair sweatpants. "Heard you're underdressed for the weather. Thank you, Ratchet. I'll make sure she eats her dinner." My friend turned his attention to me with a hardened glare on his face.

I took his offerings, slipped the thick hoodie over my head, and pulled the sweatpants over my basketball shorts. "You can't blame me, I was worried about Sides. The two of them woke me up in the middle of the night and snuck me into the base. Then I was trapped in their room until Prowl took me to the Med. Bay and told me that he was injured," I argued and crossed my arms with a pout on my face.

Ratchet mumbled under his breath, something on the lines of 'idiotic twins' before leaving me with Will. Said person gently pushed me in the direction of the cafeteria. "Come on you. Let's get some food into you and taken home."

Alarm flashed inside of my head at the sound of leaving the two to their own. "Wait, Will. Can I please stay? Prowl gave me three days off and I kind of wanted to spend it with them. Because I-uh… never mind." I couldn't bring myself up to say that I was starting to like them more than guardians or friends.

"Oh, right… Is everything going well between the three of you?" Will took me over to where Epps and a couple of others were sitting. The dogs happily trailed behind us, watching out for any danger. Vivian did seem like she wanted to go to the soldiers and get some pets from them.

"Yes, everything is fine. I just don't know how to feel around the two of them. I want to maybe have a relationship with them but fear is holding me back. Plus having two partners is frowned upon out in the real word. God, if my mother could see me now." A shiver ran down the length of my spine at the though. She would never accept them as my partners.

"Do you like them? Like really like them?" I sat down next to him and dipped my head at Epps and the others to silently greet them.

"Well, I-I think so. I haven't felt this way towards someone in… never actually," I answered truthfully and stared down at the not-so-good looking food Will pushed in my way. My mind was confused on what I should feel for the two mech's. Should I let them into my fucked up life or push them away like I have done to everyone else?

"Ohhhh, someone has a crush," Epps teased and poked me on the shoulder from the other side of Will. I rolled my eyes and shoulder bumped into Will.

"Anyway, eat now or else Hatchet will have a fit about it. He'll figure it out somehow and things won't go good for the both of us." I dug into my food that Will gave me and didn't find the taste of it good on any level. With Ratchet figuratively leaning over my shoulder, I knew my only option was to eat it or be taken off the force.

Stupid robots thinking they could control my life.

After finishing up the meal, I headed back to the Med. Bay with the dogs side-by-side next to me. Kodi has the top of his head in the palm of my hand, savoring the rub of my fingers. Vivian was trying to gain his attention but was failing terribly as he was paying more attention to me. He was probably worried over my wellbeing like a lot of beings have been the past few weeks.

The Med. Bay doors were opened, welcoming anyone to enter if they dared. Many of the soldiers, including bots alike, were fearful of their medic and usually stayed away from him and his place of work. I entered the hangar and noticed that the curtain blocking off the two was open.

Said two noticed my appearance. Since Sides was unable to move from his spot due to Ratchet ordering he has to stay, Sunstreaker came up to me and swiped me off the ground. "Took you long enough. Did you eat enough?" he grunted out and petted his favorite of the two four legged animals.

"Yes I did. I'm not use to eating dinner. I usually skip it and head to bed instead." Sunstreaker stood back up and strolled over to where his injured brother is. Ratchet was back in here, checking up on the red twin. Hopefully everything was healing nicely.

"If we knew this from the start, we would've made sure you were eating." He sat down on his original metal platform and held me close. The clothes that Will gave me were protecting me from the onslaught of cold outside so I wasn't relying on Sunstreaker or Sides to keep me warm.

Little did they know, I was amazing at keeping secrets and dancing around the truth. "William better have fed you healthy food and none of that junk slag your kind has," Ratchet spoke up as he was taking a couple of tubes out of Sides wound. Just from the time I saw him, Sides was healing quickly to the point he could probably be up and moving by tomorrow or so.

"Yes, he did and got me some warmer clothes. I can handle the cold for a while but too long in it, it starts to get to me," I reassured and snuggled into the warm hoodie.

"If you wants some warmer clothes, we can take you after Ratchet checks me off as healthy and fit," Sides wiggled excitedly in his spot. A smile adorned my face at the sight of him.

Ratchet flicked the side of his helm. "Stop moving and you're not going anywhere. Optimus will send someone else with her to retrieve whatever she wants from her dwelling." Sunstreaker held me closer to his frame and covered me with his other servo.

A snarl grew on his face plates from Ratchet's words. "You need to stay by Sides, you know this. And Aubrey needs better clothes then ones she is wearing." The medic did have a point, also Sunstreaker needs to get use to me do other things without them.

Only thing that the yellow twin did was growl and gladly set me down on the ground. That's an improvement.


	26. Chapter 26: Fun and Games

**School has started for me today. I might forget to post chapters so I apologize in advance if I forget to post.**

Last night, Bumblebee thankfully took me to my house to grab two days' worth of clothes and an extra hoodie. Since the five of us were in a rush to get out of there like it was on fire, no one locked the door or secured. No thieves decided try to rob me of my possessions. Who would if there was a Warden's truck in front?

Sarah seemed, her truck being parked in front, to be at her house but Bee told it was best to get back. The poor bot sounded terrified when he said we needed to hurry up. Did the twins have something to do with it? I understood their reasoning of wanting to protect me after what just happened. Yet, it slightly unnerved me.

He barely spoke to me anyhow, when he did, it was small sentences. It was late when he pulled up to the Med. Bay where Sides was still. The sun had long gone down behind the horizon and left us with no light. I had to slip on both of my jackets to keep warm since the sun had set.

The twins were staying together until Ratchet releases the red one once he's healed mostly. Sides was getting better every hour or so, it shocked me how fast he was healing. No one in man-kind has ever recovered quickly like he has before with a serious injury.

Bumblebee and I said our goodbyes and the yellow bot sped off quickly. I carried my stuff into the Med. Bay and noticed Sunstreaker and Sides sitting on the ground, carefully petting the two dogs. "Did you guys scare the poor scout before he took me to my house?" I questioned the closer I got to them.

Sunstreaker shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing. "Yeah. He needs to know you're with us and not to try anything with you," he threw out there like it didn't matter.

"Sunny, you didn't have to scare him. Bee wouldn't have done anything," I stated, knowing the scout wouldn't have tried to do any wrong with me. Then realized that I called him by his nickname, not his full name. Fear grew inside of me, believing he was going to get angry for calling him that.

The mech raised his metal brow at me, a hint of amusement appearing on his face. Was he not mad at me for calling him that? "We had to make sure of that. You never know," Sides butted in, sounding entertained.

"I'm going to ignore the fact you called me that stupid name," Sunstreaker mumbled and returned to stroking the Pit bull mix between his legs. So he wasn't mad. Should I push my luck and call him 'Sunny' again.

I jogged over to the four of them and set down my stuff off to the side, out of the way of the iron giants. The dogs left their favorite bot's side and came up to me, tails wagging excitingly. "Did you guys miss me?" I got down on my knees and scratched their bellies.

Kodiak knocked his big body into me, nearly pushing me over. "Go on, go play or something." The two listened to me and ran off to the middle of the Med. Bay, Vivian chasing down the larger dog. She attempted to get the extra skin on his snout. I shook my head, muttering to myself about them.

"But you love them," Sides stated the obvious. That I do, more than they'll ever know. Sunstreaker picked himself off the ground and helped his brother up. Sides sat down on his slab with the help of the yellow twin.

Said twin scooped me off of the ground and held me close to his chassis. "Could you please recharge with us?" Sides inquired and gave the puppy eyes. That was kind of my plan, I didn't want to sleep in the barracks again. It wasn't fun, especially the sergeant telling us light's out. Reminds me of my time in training as a Game Warden, harder than you think.

"Yes, I will. Don't worry. Someone needs to keep an eye on the two troublemaker's, Sunny and Sides." I tested the waters again with the yellow bot. Said bot didn't react much with only the slight growl yet didn't say anything to me.

Sides glanced at his broth, seeing how he would react to me calling that. "He says he likes you calling him Sunny," Sides repeated with a smirk on his face. Sunny growled louder this time and glared at him in reaction. Surprisingly enough, he just held me in his servo and sat down on his slab.

I gazed up at him, the smallest of smirks gracing my lips. "May I call you Sunny, now?" Sunny rolled his optics and nodded his head slightly. "So, how was your day, Sunny?" I was going to have fun with this power he gave me.

"Don't push your luck, squishy," he grunted, not sounding threatening on any level. I snuggled up to him and drew invisible patterns on his still ruined paint job. Tomorrow, I was going to fix that for him. Hopefully it wasn't as cold as it was today.

All three of us quieted down, taking in the silence that engulfed us. I listened to the soft hum of his spark, the sound of it helping to draw me closer to sleep.

"What is she still doing here?!" a male robotic voice interrupted my peaceful sleep. "I thought I told you guys she needed to sleep in a proper bed not, your servo." It was Ratchet yelling at who must be the twins.

"Hatchet, we didn't want her so far from us. What if a Decepticon decided to attack the base? Sunny would have to cross the entire base to get to her. Plus, I don't think she wanted to leave us last night," Sides's voice sounded to my left.

Since they woke me from my sleep, I stretched out my sore muscles and groaned tiredly, still half asleep. A slightly cold digit pushed against my side, poking me more out of my sleep state. "Time to get up, Brey," Sunny called. I grabbed onto the plating of the digit and pulled it closer to me. "No, let go. Ratchet has to check up on the both of us."

Stupid Ratchet. I groggily sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, releasing my hold on him. "It's too early to be up and about," I whined and embraced myself.

"You're usually up earlier then this time," Sides noted and patted the top of my head. "So cute." I furrowed my brows in bewilderment and gazed up at the cherry red twin. "It's true though, you're adorable."

Ratchet plucked me out of Sunstreaker's servos like a kitten and set me down on the ground. Sunny reached out to grab me from his grasp but cut himself short and only kept his optics locked onto me. His brother followed Sunny's actions with only watching over me. "You can't stay, Aubrey. If you want, William is in the Main hangar. Just beware, he's a little on edge since the battle," Ratchet ordered.

"Uh-oh, I'm probably going to stay away before he blows a gasket. Alright, see you later Ratchet, Sides, Sunny," I said my goodbyes to the three and called for the dogs. They jumped to their paws and rushed over to me, tails wagging excitingly.

I led the dogs out of the Med. Bay before Ratchet closed the hangar door behind us. Who could we hang out with until they're done? I turned my attention down to the dogs. "Who do you guys want to see? Because we have some time on our hands and paws to kill."

Kodiak tilted his head then perked up before trotting off, Vivian trailing like a shadow. Who did he have in mind? It wasn't too surprising he slightly understood English. Both of them were extremely smart for their kind and knew what I said sometimes. Other times they would ignore me and act like they were deaf.

The large dog continued to pad his way across the base, taking me to an unknown place. Vivian decided to stay at my side to allow her partner in crime to go on his way.

He kept walking around the base, not actually going anywhere and leading us in circles. This did pass the time quite quickly and when we were within sight of the Med. Bay, Kodiak and Vivian took off running towards it. The door was opened again to allow anyone brave or dumb enough to enter.

"Wait! You two! Kodiak, Vivian," I called to them and rushed after they started to run. This is the one of the few times they decided they were deaf and continued on their way to the Med. Bay.

It was two legs against four and gave them the advantage to reach the hangar quicker them me. They enter the large hangar without me and trotted along without a care in the world. Thanks a lot you two, note the sarcasm in that sentence.

Once I got close enough to the door, I noticed Ratchet, Sides, and Sunny all speaking with each other. It slightly seemed that the medic was scolding both of them for something before pointing towards the door. He gave one last look to them then turned around and strolled further into his hangar.

Sides shrugged his good shoulder as if he didn't know what the medic was angered about. His twin finally noticed me running towards them and the other two troublemakers trotting up to them. He sat down on his haunches as Vivian went towards him and gently petted the top of her boxy head. "Seems like you were having a little trouble with these two," Sunstreaker teased.

"They saw the hangar door open and made a mad dash towards it. Sorry about that," I apologize once inside of the Med. Bay and slowed down to a stop to catch my breath. It was probably a half of a mile run from our position, maybe a little less.

Sunstreaker waved off my apology. "I'm mean who wouldn't come running towards us handsome mech's," Sides joked with a cheeky smile gracing his metal lips. I couldn't but laugh at his words and rolled my eyes playfully.

"Keep believing that, sweetheart," I retorted and sashayed over to where Kodiak was.

"That's what caught your attention, you cannot deny that fact," Sunstreaker pointed out. Well, their alt. modes did at the gas station but that's not the reason why.

"That's not the entire reason. Your personalities are what I lo-like about you guys," I stated and stroked Kodiaks head once reached where he was. I had almost slipped up with a word that shouldn't be said, yet. Maybe later if we ever truly get together. "Also, I didn't come back for us to bicker. I was going to offer you something nice and sweet but I've changed my mind."

It wasn't nice to tease them like that but they've kind of earned it. Sides pushed past his brother and leaned down to my high, careful of his injured shoulder. "No, please! I'll be nice, I promise. I want the nice and sweet thing, please," he begged and gave the classical puppy eyes.

I placed a finger on my chin and have them a thinking expression. "I dunno, I think the dogs and I are going to go for another walk," I teased and turned around to walk away. My plan of playing with the twins took a turn, not necessarily for the worse.

Sides scooped me off of the ground. I yelped at the sudden movements and held onto his servo for dear life. "Please, I'll be good. We'll both be good," he begged and glanced at his brother. Sunstreaker rolled his optics and sighed at his brother antics.

"No tricks." I pointed an accusing finger at him. Sides nodded his head firm and have me a promising look. This might go better than planned. "Let's head to the hangar where they clean the vehicles." His face lit up like a Christmas tree and he immediately transformed into his alt mode. The quick movements gave me whiplash and my vision blurred for a few moments.

His engine revved to show off his excitement and maybe the powerful engine underneath his hood. "Race you there, Sunny. Whoever gets there first gets the first wash!" Sides peeled out of there without a care in the world, his tires trying to grip against the concrete.

Sunstreaker transformed also within a second, let the dogs in, and chased his brother down. I peeked through the back window and saw that he was on our tail. A laugh bubbled in my chest as we continued our speeding path towards the washing hangar.

The outside wasn't too cold to wash them in this weather so that was a perk.

He skid to stop in front of the closed doors and opened his door me. I slipped out and had to regain my bearings after racing through the base at high speeds. Sunny let the dogs out of his alt. mode. The two of them transformed into their bi-pedal mode. "Next time, we need to find a track you can do that on. That was fun!" I cheered and jumped into the air.

Smiles appeared on all of our faces, Sunstreaker was smiling, that was a first! "We've missed this and you sweetspark. Once, I'm cleared by Hatchet, we can have our fun anywhere you want," Sides suggested. "Now, come on. I won the race and earned myself a wash from you."

The five of us entered the building and closed the large door behind us. The heat was on and needed to stay in this room. I had a sneaking suspicion that my clothes weren't going to stay dry with these two troublemakers.

Off to the side, there was a bucket already set up for a vehicle wash. I jogged over to it and started to set everything up for the wash. I made sure to keep an eye on the hose in case one of them decided to prank me. Sideswipe did promise me no tricks but accidents happen as he would probably say.

"Get over here, troublemakers. And you two-" I point at the dogs-" be good or you'll be getting bath also." Kodiak isn't a fan of water ever since he was a puppy. Vivian was the opposite, she loved to get wet and be in water.

Said female dog perked up at the word bath and raced over to me. The other one gave a look of fear at me and solemnly followed her over to me. "Wait, no. Maybe later and inside somewhere warmer." Vivi lowered her head with a pout and trotted off somewhere in the hangar. She better not chew on something important or I swear to any god that will listen to me.

She was trailed by the black husky mix as the two started to play. "I like bath time. Ratchet hasn't allowed us to leave the hangar to wash up. I can feel the dust inside of my gears and scratching my paint." He shuddered then transformed into his alt. mode and pushed his front bumper against my legs. "But I know you'll take great care of us, right?"

There was an underlining tone in his voice when he said that, like he had some plan already made in his mind. I patted his hood gently and cringed at the feel of dust particles on it. "Yeah, I take of you like my own, like always."

I grabbed the hose, turned it on, and started to hose down the dirty red Lamborghini. Since the water hasn't been used in probably a day or so, it had to be freezing cold to the touch. My thoughts were proven correct as he reared back with his tires squealing. "That's fragging cold!" I continued to spray it on him as far it would reach. "No, wait, stop! It's cold."

A deep laughing could be heard to the left of me and surprised me from the unknown person. It was Sunstreaker, he was chuckling at his brother's misfortune of being on the cold end of the hose. An idea came to mind and an evil smirk graced my lips. I changed the direction of the hose up at Sunny and hit with said water.

His entire frame tensed up at the feel. He slowly, in a scary way, turned his head so our eyes/optics met.

At first, I thought he was going to be pissed off at me form the look on his face but that idea was thrown out. "Two can play that way," he playfully growled and stepped over to where I was. I yelped at his approaching form and ran like my life depended on it away from him. "You're not going anywhere."

Then, Sunny plucked me off of the ground and brought me back over to the hose. Carefully, he picked it up and dosed me in the mild temperature water. I gasped in shock and huffed to rid of the liquid around my lips. "Haha, it's not even that cold anymore," I teased even though I wasn't in the position to do so.

"I can stick you outside and see how that feels." Dread flooded my mind at his words. He wouldn't do that, would he? Sunstreaker started to made his way over to the large hangar door.

In fear of getting hypothermia, I wiggled in his grasp and clawed at his digits. "Please, no. It's too cold outside for me while wet!" I explained and continued my attempt to escape his grasp.

Sunstreaker stopped in his tracks and burst out laughing, the deep sound bouncing off the walls. His brother showed up next to him and placed his servo on Sunny's shoulder. Sides's own laughter echoing all around us.

Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach at the cruel prank they played. I brought my fist down, hard on his servo and glared daggers at him. This caught his attention. He chuckled lowly and gazed down at me, confusion written in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

The room wasn't entirely warm to human stands with it being so big. The coldness was starting to get to me after him dosing me with water. "I'm cold and wet. Then you pulled a stupid ass prank on me of getting hypothermia. That's what's wrong," I nearly growled. "Put me down, please."

He nodded his head slightly and gently placed me back down on the ground. "I understand that you guys like playing pranks from what I have heard but if it endangers my or other's lives, then it's a no-go. That all I have to say… Now, do you believe you still earned a wash from me?" I questioned and wanted their honesty. Hopefully they would chose what I believe is right for them.

Both of them lowered their head in shame. "We're sorry," they apologized in unison. Sideswipe gave the ol' puppy dog look and begged for my forgiveness.

Something deep in my mind told me to let it go. Was he truly going to stick me outside? That's the real question here. No, he wasn't going to, that I could tell by his personality. "I give, I give. Both of you over by the hose and in your alt. modes. Remember, I'm giving you mercy this time." They listened to my command and strolled over to where I ordered them to be. Sides being a little more excited about then his brother.

Once transformed into the Lamborghini's that I love, I hosed Sides down first with the warm water. The jet setting was helpful for getting the mud caked on his frame off. I, of course, had to be carefully near his hood where the wound is. The welding mark was still there until it fully was healed then it would be fixed.

The two decided to take their holoforms out for the fun of it. An idea did come to mind while drying Sides frame and a mischievous smirk grew on my lips. After finishing with him, I went over to the bucket and grabbed the dirty sponge.

Sunstreaker tensed up as our eyes locked and gave me a look that told me not to. I didn't listen to him and chucked it right at him. His holoforms disappeared just in time and it made a splat noise when it hit the wall behind him. He reappeared behind me and wrapped his arms around my midsection, trapping my arms at my side.

"You really thought that was going to work-" water cascaded down onto the two of us, the dirty water. I glanced down at the ground and saw the bucket was gone. "Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker sounded beyond pissed and fizzled out of sight.

His alt. mode changed to his bi-pedal form and anger was clear as day on his face plates. The red twin also transformed and gave his brother sheepish look. "How was your quick shower?" This pissed off the other even more. Sunstreaker had enough of his brother and lunged at him. I quickly rushed to the side as not to get squished by them.

"Sunstreaker! Stop!" I shouted at the yellow twin to gain his attention and failed to do so. "Sunny! It's alright." The mention of his nickname did stop him in his tracks, him putting his brother in a full nelson.

Our eyes/optics locked and his raged started to dissipate. Sunstreaker climbed off of Sides and strolled over to me. With a swiftly scoop of his servo, I was off of the ground and in his servo. Thankfully, he didn't walk outside since I was still wet. He did hold me close to his chassis and glared daggers at his twin.

"Geez, someone is a little possessive today," Sides joked and carefully stood, pain clear in his moments. Sunny revved his engine, still ticked off at him and held me close to him.

"Sunny, it's alright. Come on, transform so I can wash your alt. mode," I defused the situation to the best of my abilities. You try to tell two aliens robots that act like teenagers to stop fighting… That's what I thought.

The yellow twin huffed, set me down, and listened to my suggestion. His armor was a little bit more scratched after his rough housing with Sides. I knew how to wash and wax properly but paint wasn't my specialty. So he would have to do that by himself.

"And about your paint, you'll have to do that yourself. I don't trust my abilities enough to paint you guys, sorry," I apologized and filled the bucket back up with warmish water. It wasn't too cold which was a given for the cooler temperature outside.

Sides sat down carefully on the ground a couple of feet away from me with his legs out in front of him. "Nah, you're fine. I'm thankful for the wash. I felt disgusting having to sit in the Med. Bay without getting a rinse," the red twin replied smoothly and leaned towards me. "Before you start on him, could you come over here pretty please?"

I turned to him and eyed him suspiciously, unsure about his intentions. If whatever is going on between the three of us is going to work, I needed to trust them. Trusting them, or anyone in general, sounded like a sin to me. But that didn't stop me, I ambled up to the injured bot and gazed carefully up at him. He placed his finger tips carefully on one side of my chin and tilted my head upward.

A glint appeared in his eye. Immediately, my mind sounded the warming bells yet I didn't pull away and handed him some of my trust. Sides leaned forward more, mindful of his injured shoulder and gently pressed his forehead against mine.

Electricity surge through the connection. At first, I thought it was just a subtle shock and left a weird feeling behind, but it didn't go away. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing; the electricity wasn't hurting me, not that I could tell, and left a pleasant feeling behind.

The mech broke the connection a few moment later with a smirk plastered in his face. "What was that?" I question, confused about what just happened.

"That, sweetspark, was something magical." Yes, that totally answers my question and the rest swarming inside of my mind.

"You don't know what that was," Sunstreaker interrupted and deadpanned. The look on Sides face dropped and he gazed sheepishly down at me.

"I don't know what that was but I wanted to try some contact with you." Sincerity grew in his optics after his sentence. All I could do was shake my head before standing on my tippy toes and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

His entire frame tensed but relaxed a second later. Relief seemed to flood his systems as did excitement. He bounced happily in his spot with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Haha, brother of mine! I got another kiss. It's two to zero, I'm in the lead!" Did he seriously make that into a challenge against his twin? Whatever rocks your boat, I guess.

Sunny revved his engine softly and would've gave a butt-hurt look to me. "Don't get your hopes down just yet, Sunny. Time is still in our hands. I have a day left before going back to work," I encourage the yellow twin who in turned to rise on his wheels and lurked forward. "And this isn't a competition. I want to be fair to both of you. I'm not going to get between the two of nor will I choose one over the other. I like you both."

The injured twin gazed down at me with hope sparkling in his optics from my words. "You mean that? Truly mean that?" Longing continued to grow within, but so did his doubts by the looks of it. All he needed was reassurance and I would be there for the both of them.

"Yes, I mean it from the bottom of my soul. I've never felt this way towards someone in my life. Kodiak and Vivian are my first priority then next came my career. After that was whatever I could fit in. Love was something that I thought was fake, something that couldn't happen to someone so broken and scared like me. But you two have proven me entirely wrong. Just… be patient with me, please. Time is all I need."

"We'll give you all the time in the world for you. You're not broken. We love you for you. No matter what, we'll be here for you. We're glad to be able to change your idea of love," they declared in unison and surprised me at first. Their words warmed my heart and a smile graced my lips.

Everything was going fine. For once in my life, I was content with where I was and in different relationship with two amazing beings. Things were going great.


	27. Chapter 27: Close Moments

**Hallo! I have some good news to those who have read The Time of Night is Midnight. The first chapter of the rewritten version is soon to come out. I have yet to finish the entire thing but I'm on chapter twenty-seven and thought it was time! To those who haven't even heard of that story, I would suggest reading it. I will say, it does have its cringy bits but I wrote it a couple of years ago. Sorry! Had to do a self-promotion.**

An idea came to mind while filling up the bucket full of clean water. I wanted to try something with the already transformed twin and turned in his direction. "Hey, Sides, could I try something with you?" He perked up due to my call and nodded at bit excited.

"Anything you want!" I sauntered over in front of him and gazed up at him. The mech lowered himself to be somewhat level with me and looked at me with curiosity swirling in his blue optics. A kind smile graced his lips. "You know, you're adorable." I ignored his sentence and raised my hand hesitantly, with a questioning expression.

Sides nodded his helm and pressed his cheek against my open hand. I gently ran my fingers the sharp edge of his jaw line. His optics fluttered offline and he leaned more into the touch. Then, I realized Sides was getting most my attention, especially when we pressed our foreheads together.

I retracted my hand, gave the mech an apologetic look, and jogged over to Sunstreaker. "I'm sorry for ignoring you," I apologized and set my hand down on his right front fender. The yellow Lamborghini pushed himself more into my touch, surprisingly.

Even if we are on good terms, I half expected him to tell me not to touch his paint. It was messed up through so that could be part of the reason. "Don't apologize. This is was new to you, we understand." I released my breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Yes, it is. But that still do-" I was interrupted by him transforming swiftly and kneeling down in front of me. A pointed look made its way to his features and he hissed lowly.

Sunstreaker then growled and pushed me slightly with the tip of his index digit. I stumbled back to regain my balance and peered up at him, confused on why he did that. "This is new. Pit, it's new to us and we're still trying to wrap our processor around it. For someone of your kind, you are taking this well." I didn't take into account they haven't done this before with a human, probably. We'll just have to figure out each other's limits of what we can and can't do.

"I'm use to adapting to my surroundings within a snap of my fingers. There was no time of figuring it out, you just go with the flow as we humans say," I answered truthfully and shrugged my shoulders like it was nothing. To me, it was nothing but normal to adapt. "That's how I have survived in this disgusting world for so long."

Did I just reveal a little of my past? Not any details though, just what I had to do to survive in my household and out in the real world. "Now please take my apology so I can get your frame looking a little bit better."

My words seemed to piss off the mech a tiny bit more. Yes, I should've been terrified of what he would or could do to me but trust, I was giving them a little trust. That felt scary to do that, I haven't done the trusting thing in years.

He leaned down but still towered over me with a scowl barely gracing his lips. "We're not just going let what you said previously go. Why did you have to survive on this planet for so long? Your creator and sire should've protected you and helped you through the beginning years." Creator? Sire? I'm going to take an educated guess and say creator is mother by the sounds of it and Sire is father.

Should I tell them? Not all of it of course, just alert them that my parents weren't really there for me. It's all about that trusting thing again. I sighed deeply and played with my hair nervously. "They weren't there to care for me after they split. My brother and I had to survive together until he couldn't take it anymore and left to play his music somewhere else. I don't blame him one bit though. I would've done the same."

Sides came over to us after getting off of the ground and being mindful of his shoulder. "Split? What do you mean?" he questioned and sat down on his haunches, his brother following his actions. If I did tell them, they would pity me, nearly everyone did. The others thought we were bad children and that's why.

"The love ran out. My mom and dad no longer loved each other and divorced, not caring much about the mental trauma it would have on us. They always thought for themselves and not us," I answered and forced myself not to cry. I've cried myself to sleep too many times, even after moving all the way across the country.

It became silent in the hangar again, the dogs not making a sound wherever they were. A tear rolled down my cheek. After so many years of burying myself in work and living so far away from my problems, it still hurt to think about my parents and brother.

The red twin was first to notice the tear and immediately took action. "Hey, no. Don't leak, please," he begged and wiped the drop of salt water off of my face.

"Squishy, that's in the past. You can't change what happened but you can make happy memories with us or with those two annoying mech's or whoever you choose," Sunstreaker encouraged and used his index finger to tip my chin upward. Our eyes/optics met and sincerity filled his. He cared, he cared for me. Both of them do and they show me that at each ample opportunity.

He was right, what he said was completely true. I can't dwell on the past and let that be the thing that drives me. I placed my hand in the palm of his and smile in appreciation. "Thank you, I mean it. Now, you're still dirty and I haven't fulfilled my promise."

The mech carefully enclosed his servo around my much smaller one and pulled me closer to him. His breaths fanned over me and sent a shiver down my spine; my clothes were still wet from Sides pouring the dirty bucket water on us. Sunny pressed his forehead against mine and a soft jolt of electricity ran through the connection.

Since it didn't hurt or injure me, there was no reason for me to pull away. The two of us stayed like this for a few extra moments before he leaned back and returned to his spot by the hose. The electric feeling still ran through. I had to gather my bearings and scattered thoughts. "You okay there?" Sides questioned with underlying tone to it.

"Uh-" I cleared my throat and messed with the collar of my shirt- "yeah. Just didn't expect that to happen."

"Two sparkfelt moments in less than an hour, amazing." I rolled my eyes playfully and smacked his shin before heading over to where his brother was sitting in his alt. mode. "Careful, I just got a wash from a beautiful femme."

Stupid mechs. Heat rose to my cheeks and insecurity flooded me. After what we just experienced, I knew it was best to not argue with them and leave it on a good note. "Aww, she's blushing," Sides teased and followed me over to Sunstreaker.

If it was anyone else, I would've smacked them for that comment and left the second after. I've rarely been given compliments and weren't use to them. That's why they get embarrassing reactions out of me.

"Shut it," I snapped but held no power behind it. It was only a reaction to his words and hopefully they I didn't mean any bad towards them. "And I'm not blushing!" I poured some of the standard car soup into the bucket and used the jet mode on the hose to create bubbles.

Sides chuckled lowly to himself and lied down on the cold concrete. The sponge was laying on the other side of Sunstreaker since I threw it at his holoforms. It was probably even dirtier and the yellow twin wouldn't want his paint to more scratched then it already is. I grabbed a new sponge, dropped it into the bucket, and started to water down his alt. mode.

The clear water that ran off of his frame turned brown from the dirt that collected on him. "And I thought my trucks got down in the dirt," I threw out there leisurely and used the jet mode to get off the caked on mud. Sides was dirty with mud caked and a few sticks stuck in the seams of his armor. His brother though, I'm surprised he didn't throw a fit the time he was in the Med. Bay, was beyond anything I have seen.

Sticks and branches off of bushes were stuck in his grill; some small branches were poking out of the seams of his armor. Washing him was going to take a lot longer than his brother. Hopefully the dogs don't get bored in here. Speaking of them, where are they? "I hate this mud ball of a planet. Particles get everywhere, and not in good places either," Sunstreaker complained.

"It's not that bad besides the dirt of it. The sunsets where I used to live were the best. Nature, in general, is beautiful, that's why I work as a Game Warden. I want to protect the land and animals it holds to the best of my ability," I reasoned and sat down on my haunches in front of his grill. "Sunny, could I try to dislodge some of the sticks you got stuck here?"

"I'll somewhat agree of nature being beautiful but the fact it's always getting our gears doesn't overturn our opinion. And my paint is already fragged up, just be careful," he warned and granted me to help remove the debris stuck.

I carefully and gently pull on the first branch to see how lose it was. Luck was on our side and it easily came out. One down, many, many more to go. "That felt weird." I apologized quietly and continued pulling them out timidly since he didn't tell me to stop.

By the time I was nearly done drying him alt. mode, the sun was close to setting and meant the day was almost over. The dogs still haven't made their appearance which made me start to worry on their whereabouts. "Kodiak, Vivian, come!" I called loudly in the large hangar after my thoughts got out of hand.

Nothing. Not a single sound of their paws or them in general. Oh no, where are you you two? Worry began to eat me alive. "My sensors aren't picking them up in here. They've must have escaped," Sides noted and stood up.

Tears prickled at the corner of my eyes due to his words. If they're out there, on the base, by themselves where being stepping is a hazard. That thought didn't sooth the darker idea's slowly growing in the back of my mind. Please be safe. "I'm sorry Sunstreaker, but I need to go find them." I threw the towel on the nearest workbench and jogged towards the human sized down.

The sound of one of them transforming caught my attention. Sides pulled up next to me with his driver side door folded up and kept pace with me. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hop in!" I thought for a moment about it before slipping into the lovely Lamborghini. His brother had opened the door for us to slip out. "Now, where do you think they could've gone?"

"The only people they know are Will and his buddies and a couple of the bots. They wouldn't go to someone they haven't been introduced before. I would try seeing if Will has seen them." Sides was quiet for a couple of moments before gunning his engine and taking a sharp left. His tires desperately gripped at the ground for traction and finally caught hold.

"Bee seen them a few minutes ago by the training area," Sides replied and drove expertly through the streets of the base. Those two… I was going to kill them the next I see them.

We arrived in the area within a minute or so which had to be record time. I rushed out of the Lambo while the door was folding up and jogged over to where Bee saw them last.

There were soldiers training with Ironhide. By the looks of it, they were working on their physical limitations, mostly running. A small hand full of the soldiers was sitting off to the side, nausea clear on their face. I remembered the fun times at the camp, training to become a Game Warden. Fun times.

Aubrey, not the time! Two dogs are in need to be found.

Ironhide noticed me jogging over to the area, gave the group of trotting soldiers a look over, and then strolled up to me. "Ironhide, I'm sorry to bother you. Is there by any chance you have seen Kodiak and Vivian?"

"Yeah-" he nodded his head and turned to point over by the sick soldiers-", they decided to come and join us. Vivian just wanted attention from them and Kodiak following a couple of them." I laid eyes on the two troublemakers and sighed in relief.

Our eyes/optics met and he received an appreciative nod from me. "Thank you. I didn't have to look all over the base to find them. They somehow escaped from the hangar we were in and ran off. I'm sorry they came to bother you and your soldiers." Hide scoffed and waved his servo as if he was brushing off my apology.

"Don't apologize. They did no such thing. I'm just glad they came here and didn't get themselves hurt. It's a dangerous place on the base for them." I knew that because of being stepped on is a hazard on here. Never thought I would have to watch out for giant metal feet. Weirdest sentence in my life, that's for sure."If you want, I can watch over them until training is over. Let you have some time to yourself. I know the Terror Twins can be a servoful."

Two deep rumble of engines alerted that the twins had heard his comment. I held up my hand to stop them and shook my head to silently tell them 'no'. It wasn't worth their time or energy. "Ironhide, I'm alright with Sides and Sunny. But anything besides that isn't your business. I'll take your offer though, the dogs need to get out and about."

A shocked look passed over his face at my words but he didn't put up a fight, surprisingly. "I guess, you're right." It sounded like he had to force those words out. "Training ends at eighteen hundred, be here or else I'll give them to Lennox."

"I'll be here for pick up. Thank you, Ironhide," I thanked him and left with the twins in tow.

"Slagger. We were standing right there and he knew! If you weren't there, Squishy, I would've taken him down," Sunstreaker snarled and peered behind him to give the weapon specialist a heated glare.

"Sunny, the situation has been defused. Everything is settled, no reason to try anything. Plus we have until six to do whatever we please without causing harm or damage." That last part was directed towards the prankster of the two. He even knew it was him I was talking about but didn't act the slightest embarrassed or ashamed.

"She's right, Sunshine. Let's drive around base for awhile and soak in each other's company." Sides transformed and sat excitedly next to me in his alt. mode. His brother growled at being called 'Sunshine' and stood there for a moment to maul over the option given to him.

Sunstreaker fell for it and followed his brother's lead but pulled around him to sit next to me. "You're riding with me this time." There was no question about and he didn't leave any room for argument. I sat down on the smooth, warm leather seat. Gladly, my clothes were long dried by now so I couldn't catch a cold or something on the lines.

Once inside of his alt. mode and a seatbelt on, he peeled off quickly and revved his engine. The powerful, high performance engine sent a shiver down my spine at just the sound and vibrations. It couldn't be helped, it sounded… heavenly. That sounds totally wrong but oh well.

We were far away from the training area when the mech slowed down to a normal speed. I closed my eyes and ran my fingers subconsciously on the leather seat. The seatbelt tightened but nothing in protest came from him so I continued doing it.

Sunstreaker came to a screeching stop and gunned his engine once more. The sound driving me crazy. "I swear to Primus if you don't stop that, I'm going to frag you!" Every muscle in my body tensed at his words and my eyes widened to the side of dinner plates.

Fright did start to creep up on me at his loud and dominating voice. It was overrun by embarrassment running though me. I buried my head into my hands to hide the blush making its way to my cheeks. Did he seriously just say that? Over the time of being around any of them, I have learned what frag means in their tongue.

"S-sorry," I apologized and couldn't bring myself to look up.

The mech sighed and transformed around me carefully. I was deposited gently on the ground and release a noise of surprise. Sunny bent down for our faces to be close and stared at me. A hint of guilt swirling in his optics. "I didn't mean to scare you. As you can see, I'm a bit wound up because of the pit fragger thinking he can get into our business."

After a moment had passed, Sunstreaker tucked his digit under my chin and forced me to look up at him. The fear left me the second we stared intently at each other. I gently ran my fingers along his jaw line, careful of the sharp edges that could easily cut me. "It's alright. Now, can we proceed with our lovely drive around the base?"

He didn't react to me and stared deeply into my eyes. Then he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against mine and transformed right after. There was a small shock electricity that came from the touch but it didn't hurt. Instead, it felt pleasant or 'good' and left behind a warm feeling.

I hopped into the yellow Lamborghini and buckled up for the ride. We did have a couple of hours before we had to go pick up the dogs. Since I knew they were fine and in good hands, there was no reason for me to worry too much.


	28. Chapter 28: Contacted by the Enemy

**I have some exciting news! The rewritten version of The Time of Night is Midnight will be coming out on Friday!**

The cool breeze of Maine gently blew my hair out of my face. It was about mid day on this lovely afternoon, barely a cloud in the sky and the sun shining down on us. Bumblebee and I have been driving around my section for most of the morning and checking out for anything out of normal. Nothing, completely silent too.

One of the things I hated about this job, it can be a crazy day before and the next is silent. I stood outside of my truck and watched the cars pass by me on the road. Bee had parked himself to the right of my truck, on the higher side. There were large potholes in the little hide-away spot that the Camaro had trouble going over.

With the twins out of commission until Sides is healed enough for Ratchet's liking, they'll be stuck at the base. So Bee took up the offer to become my temporary guardian. The scout is fun to hang around and likes to crack jokes when the time calls.

"Squirrel! I like… Squirrel!" Bee began a conversation and drew a laugh from me. I peered over the robot in disguise and noticed the animal he was talking about on his hood. It was a simple Eastern gray squirrel, native to Maine.

Since winter has came, I surprised to see the little guy there. The squirrel should be back its nest, not out here. Seeing them at this time was leaning more on the uncommon side but isn't completely out of the ordinary. "It's an Eastern grey squirrel, Bee. He shouldn't really be out and about. He seems to be in great health so nothing to be worried about," I educated the young mech.

"He's a… cutie! I wanna, I wanna keep… him. What do you say?" Bee seemed to raise himself higher on his wheels as if he was showing the squirrel off. It froze, tail no longer flickering, and waited a few moments. He's going to scare it by moving if he keeps that up.

"Sorry, Bee. He's in great health, no reason why he should be taken from his home," I disagreed with Bee and leaned against the push bars on the front of my forest green truck.

Bumblebee lowered his front to the ground and made a sputtering sound, as if his engine failed to start. The squirrel froze once more at the movement before jumping off and heading into the forest behind us. "Squirrel! Why have… you done this?" I stepped up to the sadden mech and patted his hood in sympathy.

"You'll live without your squirrel. You ready to hit the road?" It was time to head back out, there wasn't anyone here wanting to break the law. Not that I'm saying to do so, but give me something to do.

"Hit the road Jack and don't you come back. No more, no more, no more, no more." The song 'Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles' filtered from his speakers. A smile graced my lips and I laughed in reaction.

"Good one, Bee. Let's get going!" The scout revved his engine and lurched forward, showing his readiness for the road. I hopped into my patrol truck and headed onto the road with Bee in tow.

There was nothing going over on the radio and no calls coming from dispatch. Three days back after my long vacation and I thought it would be hectic. Yet, there was barely anything happening in any part of the state. With nothing to keep me busy, something either extremely good or bad is going to happen, no in between.

The light in front of me was red and forced me to stop and wait for it to turn green. That's when I got a call on my phone and answered it nearly the second after. "Hello, this is Officer Lambert speaking."

It was silent. I became irritated quickly from the call not being important on any level and was about to hang up. "Hang up, fleshie and I'll blow you and the scout up," a dark, sinister voice rang from the speakers of my truck. One I remembered from my time with him, it wasn't a pleasant time.

"Try me and I'll have the entire squadron of Game Wardens on your ass." Anger overtook the fear of Barricade and what he could do. I took on three Decepticons and wasn't after of his single self. I scanned the area around us for any sign of the cop car in disguise. No sign of him anywhere.

That's when the light turned green and forced me to go through. "I'm afraid of you or your meat bag friends. I…" he trailed off and sounded like he was having trouble saying what he was going to say. "I didn't call to threaten you, I need your help." I raised an eyebrow at his response and snorted.

"Why in the world would I help you? You drug me into something I should have never been part of." Yes, it was partly my fault for sticking my nose in where it didn't belong but he didn't have to kidnap me.

"I've heard you where a femme of your word and respect you for that. Do you remember the deal the Autobots and I made for your return?"

Energon and to leave him alone. "Yeah, why? I haven't been chasing you nor do I have energon. You're out of luck there." I was about to hang up on this conversation when he stopped me.

"Wait! Hear me out. The Autoscums have gone against their word and are chasing me. I've heard from a source you are close with them and thought you could tell them to back off. It's worth a try, or I could kidnap you this time and keep you." A shutter raked my body at the thought of being kidnapped by him again. Last time wasn't fun.

What caught my attention was Lennox and Optimus have gone against their word to leave him alone. "Have you done anything to hurt any being on this planet?" This wasn't just about humans but also animals.

"No, I went to a different state to get away but they sent their human soldiers after me. I promise I haven't done any wrong to anything living thing on this disgusting planet. It would draw attention to me and I have enough to worry about." His voice was sincere and held no lies to it by the sound of it.

Yes, I was a femme of my word and didn't like anyone who went against theirs. It didn't make sense that Optimus who I have great respect for would do that, he didn't seem like the kind of being to do that, so why? Anger grew slowly inside of me at the thought. "I'll have a chat with them after my shift. Duty comes first but I won't promise that it'll work. Just promise you'll keep your word and not hurt any being on Earth."

Barricade was silently, the only thing I knew he was still there was the hum of an engine. "Thank you. You're an okay human." A smirk grew on my lips at his words.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Since I'm in law enforcement, I must make sure everyone is safe. I would say you would know that but…" It was somehow easy to talk with him even though he did kidnap me and hold me against my will.

"Yeah, yeah. Make sure to watch out for the scout." With that said and done, he hung up. So I need to talk with Optimus and Lennox after my shift, lovely.

Next, I called Bumblebee to message Optimus for me. "Hey, Bee. Don't question this but after my shift, I need to talk with Optimus and Will. If you could, pass the message along to him when they are free."

"Anything for the pretty lady!... But man!... What's this for?"

"I need to discuss something about a special person. What did I say about questions?" He made a sputtering engine sound before hanging up.

I drove around my section for a while longer until something came up on the radio. Finally! Something to do. It was a deer that got hit by a car with minor injuries from what the caller said. Decker was also called to the scene and already made it since he was the closest.

Since it was my section, I was called to go there and take over for Zeke so he could go back. After having my talk with Will and Optimus, Zeke, Dom, and I have to hang out. Even if it meant having a fire out in the fire pit, we needed to catch up on each other's lives. We haven't had the opportunity to talk with one another and it's long overdue.

Due to the accident not being major in need of my immediate presences, there was no reason to use lights or sirens. I drove through the streets of Maine to reach the highway where the accident occurred. Bee easily kept up with me, barely letting any cars get in between us. He's a good guardian, but I'll have to stay with the Terror Twins.

On the way to the scene, the road continued to get slicker and made the progress slow substantially. Behind me, Bumblebee nearly spun out and ended up in the ditch. The poor bot needs to get winter tires to deal with this kind of weather. Luckily, I already got winter tires for my truck with the combination of four wheel drive, I was doing fine.

The two of us pulled to the side of the road, behind Zeke patrol truck and Jazz's alt. mode. I put on my lights before hopping out and strolling over to where Zeke was speaking with two occupants. He noticed me coming up on them and excused himself from the two. We wrapped our arms around each other and hugged. "Brey, I thought you died and they didn't say anything."

"Decepticons were sighted and since I've had two run in's, on I was kidnapped, the twins dragged me to the base without permission from the higher ups. Sides got severely hurt while out and was stuck in the Med. Bay until Ratchet released him. He's confined to the base, waiting for Ratchet's say," I explained and released my hold on him. He did the same thing and stepped back.

Zeke pointed over at Bee parked behind my patrol. "Is he your temp.?"

"Yeah, Ratchet doesn't have a set date until Sides is healed to his liking so I got the scout. I've gotten nothing against though, he's fun to hang around with. And he likes squirrels." At the mention of the animal, the hidden mech raised himself on his axels. My partner in crime laughs at his antics and knocked his shoulder against mine.

"We've missed you. I was about to strangle Jazzy for anything about you. Then after three days, he alerted me you were fine and going home. Dom and I would've stopped by and seen if everything was alright but we've been busier then Hell." A kind smile grew on my lips at the hidden caring side he showed.

I glanced over to the silver Pontiac Solstice who looked like he was trying to stop from shivering. My long sleeve, under armor shirt and uniform was keeping me warm against the cold elements. Bee was also shaking in the slightest from the cold. I felt guilty and wished there was something to help them stay warm.

"Yeah, that's the life of a Game Warden. I should've read the fine print." Zeke tsked and placed his hand on my shoulder with a look on his face. "Yeah, yeah, I've missed you too and Dom, wherever he is. Anyway, what do we have?"

Two seconds later, an ambulance pulled up on the right shoulder behind Bumblebee. Three medics jumped out with gear and came up to us. The two of us nodded our heads at them once they passed us.

"Welp, we don't have to worry about that right now? They've got them covered. But I need to go and do some actual work because I'm consistent with my job." Zeke gave me a playful expression and scurried away before I could hit him. I would've if we weren't on the job with people around, not including the bots.

Zeke waved to me once last time. I returned the gesture and stood there. Then he pull back onto the icy highway and his guardian followed suit. Jazz did have trouble getting up to speed, both of the bots are in need of snow tires, bad.

My eyes scanned over the scene and found the culprit off to the side of the road. It was still moving around but couldn't get back up. Most likely a broken leg or two and some other broken bones. The victims didn't seem to be going fast by the looks of the tire marks in the snow. I strolled over to the deer and cringed at the sight.

Two of her legs were broken for sure. There cuts along her side from both the road and car. The chances to rehabilitate this deer where close to zero. In this area also, we do have overpopulation of deer so it wouldn't be a huge impact against the population.

The best option was to put her out of her misery. Her body won't go to waste though, I'll ask if they want her, if not then I'll take her to a nearby shelter that takes in deer. I glanced over to where the medics were looking over the two for injuries.

Shock can be a dangerous thing. Sometimes you won't even notice you have a broken bone or torn a muscle and continue damaging yourself because of that.

They might have said no to an ambulance but Zeke thought it was best to have one to check them out. It doesn't cost the people any money unless they are taken to the hospital, now that's a whole different deal. That's where the bills start staking up. Plus, it's below freezing right now and doesn't settle well for people.

Due to the severe injuries to the female deer, I would be forced to put her down. I jogged over to my truck carefully and grabbed my pistol from the back. My sides were still giving me some trouble and turning was painful at different angles. It was best just to have my gun in the truck.

I carried the gun over to the deer, said a small prayer, and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through her brain and killed her instant. She stopped struggling in pain and lied there peacefully on the side of the road. This was the down side of my job but it had to be done. Her chances were close to zero and no reason for her to suffer.

The medics were wrapping up checking up on the two when I stepped up to them. One of them turned to me and hoisted a bag of some sort onto his back. "They were mostly shaken up but besides that, they're fine," he reported. I nodded my head to acknowledge his words and in appreciation. They left the two alone and left in the ambulance.

The male of the two person group turned to me. "Hi, my name is Officer Lambert. I'm glad both of you are okay and only a little shaken up. I know this might sound strange after having a car accident but would you guys like to have the deer?"

"We can?" He gazed at me confused and turned to his partner.

"Yes, you can. All I need to do is sign some papers, get a specialized tag for her, and you're good to go. Well, you'll have to call a tow truck to pick up your truck and have someone to pick you up after. I can't let you walk either, especially in this kind of weather."

"Cool! Yeah, I'll take up the opportunity. I've only had deer once and it was the best I've ever tasted."

"I have to agree with on that." Then I noticed they were shaking and their car was too damage to start. It didn't look safe to start anyhow. "You guys cold? I can start my truck and let you stay until the tow truck gets here."

This caught the woman's attention and she nodded her head. "Please, I'm freezing my booty off!" I lead over to my patrol truck, started it up, and moved some stuff in the back for one of them to sit there.

For insurance and security reasons, I cannot let them sit in the driver seat with keys in. We've had too many criminals escape from their handcuffs and steal a patrol car. The dash cam's are always fun to see unless the vehicle gets total.

She alerted me that she already had called a tow truck and were waiting for them to arrive. This was going to be a long wait then. The icy conditions have probably caused some accidents with other cars and they were going to be busy.

Since this was going to take a little longer than I wanted, I jogged over to the silent Camaro. His holoform materialized before me with a cheery smile on his features. I gave him an apologetic look. "This is going to take a bit longer. The tow truck is coming though but I'm guessing it's going to take thirty minutes or so to arrive. If you want to, you can drive around to stay warm. I'll-" I offered.

"'No. Thank you." Is what I should've said, I should be in bed but temptations of trouble on my tongue," his radio played. I knew that song from AJR, a great band.

"Seriously? AJR? You're freezing! It's not like I can't see your frame shivering. I'll be fine," I insisted and suppressed a shutter. The cold was starting to get to me even.

"An it's a cold day, it's a continental drift. I said this traffic is hell." I glanced behind me and saw there were barely any cars going both ways. "When shit hit the fan. Sides… and… Sun…streaker… said not to let you… out of sight."

Those two, I swear they think I can't handle myself. That was proven wrong with the run in with those jets. I'm still call red shooter around base because of that. "You'll be waiting here for another thirty or so minutes until then."

"Cause if that's what I am, so be it. Know when I say, I'll be." That was a song I didn't know but understood what he wanted to say himself. It seemed it was useless to argue with him. I knew when to pick and choose my battles. The scout was adamant of staying right where he was at.

I used my note pad to write something's down about the accident and took some pictures also. Right when I was putting down a few last things, a silver Chevy Silverado pulled up behind the two car line. Out hopped a young man wrapped securely in a jacket. This must be their ride and luckily it was truck unless they want deer blood in their car.

He came up to me and put his hand to shake. "Hey, I'm here to pick up Sam and Jessie. And how are you out here in just a long sleeve shirt. It's cold!" he stated. I shook his hand and motioned towards my truck.

"Are you from around here?" I'll bet they aren't because they aren't use to the cold. Maine is up north and has harsher winters then some other states. The man shook his head quickly and followed me over to the patrol truck.

"No, we just moved here. I never knew it got this cold. Geez." We stopped on the passenger side of my patrol truck. I opened up the door and greeted the female who in return stepped out. She hugged her friend and he returned the gesture. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Same, it came out of nowhere and with the ice, we couldn't stop. Even though its spring, it's still freezing out!" she complained and stepped back from the male. The other male of the trine got out of my truck and greeted his friend.

"Did you know we can take home the deer?" the male victim questioned and acted excited. Hey, I would be to if I had the opportunity to take home some free deer meat.

"Really?" The first male nodded his head. "Luckily, I brought my truck." After that, I got them their papers and tag for the deer and sent them on their way. A few minutes later, the tow truck came and picked up the totaled car.

With everything settled at the scene, Bumblebee and I left to do the rest of my shift. I still had a good three hours and a half until my shift was over. Hopefully, Tipps didn't call me in for overtime, I had a meeting set with Optimus and Lennox.

That reminded me… How was I going to approach this situation? It's going to be clear as day that Barricade contacted me. There was no way for me to find this out without him as a source. This was going to suck to talk with them. Will's going to be worried over my safety and might force me to stay at the base again but that wasn't going to happen. I'm done with that bullshit.

What would Optimus think though? I haven't been around him enough to get a good read on him. He's a good per-being but everyone has their secrets. And he's not as good of a being as I thought; going back on your word is one of the first things that starts you down a bad road. I should know, my mother taught me that.

I needed to figure something out, at least there was a couple of hours left of my shift. It doesn't help, Dom and Zeke are coming over to catch up and probably have some beers and sit by the fire. I needed to get to the point on this and hope for the best. But now that I think about it, it wasn't my place to butt in. I barely knew anything about what's going besides that Decepticons were bad and wanted to kill humans.

What was I thinking?! Why do I get myself in these situations? Sometimes I was too dumb for my own good; and curious, yeah that too. Time to do something stupid, again.

Will gave me a puzzled look and declined my offer to sit down. Yep, I f-ed up. Now how to ease myself into the situation without causing too much of a frenzy. "I have a random question but before you interrupt me during said question, hear me out, please," I pleaded and folded my arms behind my back.

Nervousness was rising through me quickly for something so small. Was this small? If you looked at it closely, maybe, it just depends on the person.

"I'm glad you called me if you have a problem but why also request for Optimus?" Will questioned and glanced at said holoform next to him. Optimus was gazing at me carefully and studying me under a careful eye. He definitely noticed my nervous attitude but hasn't said anything about it.

"I'll answer that with what I'm about to say. Just hear me out." Okay, time to see how bad of a frenzy Will's going to into. "Have you guys been following Barricade?" Shock and complete confusion were written over both of their face.

Optimus was the first to snap out of his state. "Aubrey, why are you asking this question?" He actually sounded worried to be completely honest and it caught me off guard. I was suspecting he was going to freak out and interrogate me not be concerned.

Finally, Will got over his shocked self. I knew I was going to get an ear full from him and stopped him from speaking. "Wait, let me talk." The two of us stared at each other; me giving him a look and him glaring at me. "Okay, um. Well, fine. Barricade contacted me by somehow getting my phone number and told me a few things.

"I understand it's not my place to say anything but he wanted me to do this. So answer the question: have you guys been following Barricade?"

Will's jaw tightened and his glare deepened. "He contacted you?! He's a dead mech. He's not even in the state!" Optimus sighed at the Major's antics and placed his hand on Will's shoulder. The two gazed at each other, the holoform giving him a pointed look.

After a few more moments passed, Will backed down and let Optimus take the lead with a huff. Optimus turned me. "To answer your question, yes we have."

"Has he brought harm to any being on Earth after making the deal?" The answer to that was no. "So, you went back on your word?" Will tried to get a word in but was stopped by the towering male.

"I will be honest, yes I did. I will counter with he's an ex-con. Barricade's still dangerous to anyone that looks at him wrong."

"Optimus, you seem to be a mech that take great pride in leadership and respect. Take a look at the situation from the outside. I'm a woman of my word. If I say I'll get it done, I will if it doesn't harm anyone in the process or after. Do you understand why this slight angers me that a mech of you status and regal statue would go against what you said?"

"I do Aubrey. I thank you for bringing this up to my attention. 'If the enemy plays dirty, doesn't mean we should to.'" Perfect way of saying it. At least Barricade won't have a reason to blow Bumblebee or me up. Having this talk with him and ending it on a good note made me feel better.

But Will wasn't letting this go so easy. Let's just say, he wasn't pleased with me and I got in trouble for it. Worth it in the end for Barricade.


	29. Chapter 29: Beers by the Campfire

**If you guys haven't heard, the rewritten version of The Time of Night is Midnight is out! I will post chapters every Friday, if I remember.**

The red and orange flickers of the fire were the only source of light out by the fire pit. A cold Diet Pepsi sat in the cup colder of my fold up chair, a quarter of it gone. Dominick, Zeke, Talia, Jazz, Crosshairs and Bumblebee had joined me about an hour earlier when the sun was still shone barely.

All of us were relaxing after a hard day of work. The ex-military man had a beer in hand, so did Talia. He was on his third though and she scarcely taking drinks of hers. The only wife in the group was probably the driver for her husband and friend, meaning she couldn't drink much; good for her. Zeke had not taken up my offer of a beer and kept to a Coke Cola.

Off to the side, Jazz was holding the toddler of Zeke and Talia while keeping her busy. The mech in disguise acted like a natural for taking care of young kids, including Annabelle.

One bot that I didn't like much had to join us due to him being the guardian of Dom. Crosshairs sat off of to the side on the hood of his alt. mode and randomly sent glares in my direction. What was his problem?

Bee had been staring intently into the fire for the past five minutes, as if memorized by the flames. Zeke noticed this and sat forward in his seat, elbows resting on his knees. "Bumblebee, you're going to ruin your eyes by doing that," Zeke warned and took a sip of his Coke.

The yellow scout snapped out of his dazed state and gazed up at him. For some odd reason, Bee declined getting a chair to sit on and sat down in front of the fire. At first I didn't notice him staring at the flames but it finally caught my attention. "But it's so pretty to look at. How can you not look at it?" I mentally awed at his cute antics and hid any of those emotions off of my face.

"Because I need twenty-twenty vision as a Game Warden. Plus, I'd rather not be blind too." Yes, those two are very good reasons on why not to stare into the fire. Dom, thought, decided to join in and play along with Bumblebee.

He stood from his chair and sat down next to him. His eyes locked onto the fire and tears immediately formed in his eyes. Idiot. "Yes, fire good and pretty to stare at," Dom stated and fought against taking his gaze off the fire. I shook my head, slightly annoyed, but knew this was all fun and games. Well it was until someone shoots the cat.

Dom took it a step further and moved his hand towards the fire. I reacted immediately by grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back. He fell back and landed on his back with a surprised noise. I knew he's not that stupid to actually touch the fire but my instincts reacted first. "Idiot, why would you think it would be a good idea to touch something that can cause severe damage to you?" I decided to play along in this 'game'.

"Fire," he stated the obvious and pointed at the flickering flames. "I wanna touch." An idea came to mind while sitting in my folding chair. My eyes glanced over at the two dogs lounging on the ground.

"Kodiak, come, please." The black husky mix stood to his paws at the command and trotted over to me, seeming ready for the next one. I scratched his stomach and got him all worked up for a special reason. He needed to be completely focused on me or this could end not-so-well. "Kodiak, Schrecken! Schrecken, Kodiak."

Kodiak reacted nearly immediately. He turned around and faced the closest person to him which was Dom. His close to pearly white canines shone in the fire light. A deep growl rumbled in his chest and he released a bark.

The look on Dom's face was priceless, he was scared shitless of the dog listening to my command. Dom scrambled away from the fire and the two of us and kept his distances. "Not cool, Brey. Not cool." I quieted Kodiak down and released him so he could do whatever he wanted. Vivian got up from her spot and followed her brother to wherever on the property.

"You know he wouldn't attack you," I said sweetly and took a sip of my Diet Pepsi. Dom continued to glare at me with a butt hurt look and sat down in the chair meant for Bee. "He's a sweety. He would never hurt a fly." Well, if it was for my protection then he would bite the shit out of someone.

We fell back into a comfortable silence besides the quiet electro swing coming from Jazz's alt. mode. Said mech had finally gotten the small child in his arms to fall asleep. Addison was adorable when asleep, no one could argue that.

Bee gained attention by groaning and tipping his head back dramatically. His gaze turned to me with an annoyed expression on his face. "Sides and Sunstreaker, mostly Sides, request urgently to call them back. They said they've been trying to get a hold of you." Oh. I went to grab where my phone is usually in my pants pocket and realized it wasn't there.

Then, I remembered that I had left it purposely in the house to disconnect from that stuff. "Tell them I'll call them before I go to sleep," I requested and leaned back in my chair to savor the quiet moment.

Moments like these rarely come and are gone the next second, take them up while you can. That's the life of a Game Warden. It's nice to be able to relax with friends and have a drink by a warm fire.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Talia glance at her husband in confusion. I noticed that Bee didn't have a phone out to look like they had texted him. She doesn't know of the whole mess we got ourselves mixed up into. Gladly, Talia seemed to brush it off and push it to the back of her head.

"They aren't going to like that," he responded. Well, they can suck it up and go on for the rest of the day. Of course, I didn't that and instead shrugged to show it didn't bother me. I was finally realizing they worry extremely over my safety (they took me to the base without permission and locked me in their room) and probably have anxiety about the situation.

Again, silence took over us. The star above the little town of Jay shone brightly with the sliver of a moon to accompany them. I took a big sigh, taking in all the wonderful scents of the forest, and released. Life was going good, and I wanted it to continuing going that way. I believed I finally deserved after all that has been thrown at me, literally.

The seven of us, Crosshairs barely included himself in our small group, made small talk. Talia and I having our girl talk, mostly about the hot actors of new movies. Zeke and her trust each other very much and won't get jealous if the other talks about another person.

This meant we could talk about Tom Hiddleston, RDJ, Jeremy Renner and all those people as much as we want. Because, hot damn! Call a police and a fireman! Those men are stunning to gaze at.

When the fire decreased in size and light with the time getting further in the night, I called it a night for all of us. All of us had to work tomorrow and need our sleep to function somewhat correctly. Zeke had switched out from his Coke to a beer and wasn't able to drive anyone home. Talia was the designated driver of the group anyhow.

I waved goodbye to the three pairs taillight's retreating on the dirt path before saying good night to Bee and heading into my house. The dogs followed me in after emptying their bladder and headed up to my room. I trudged up the stairs and heard the familiar buzz of my phone. Right, need to call the twins before they blow a gasket, possibly literally.

On the screen, it showed me seventeen text messages from the two of them. Three of them were from Sunstreaker, telling me to please answer to calm his brother's antics. The rest were from Sides who was acting like half worrying parent, the other half being a kid on a sugar rush. How these two have not gotten themselves killed in battle is beyond me?

That's when I partly realized I was changing: I didn't care much about his 'hovering' attitude with the text messages. I was getting comfortable with his antics and couldn't care much. I sighed before returning Sides a call knowing he's going to be… well himself. What else did I expect?

"Brey! Hey! How's it going?" He did sound like a kid on a sugar rush! What did he get himself into now? That's the first question that came to mind. "I really, really wish you here with us. I already miss you. I may have not been onlined when you slept on my chassis but I missed those moments. Ratchet says there's a small possible chance I'll be released to the field in a week or so."

A soft and gently smile graced my lips even though he couldn't see it. "It's going good. Yeah, I guess I could I say I miss the two of you also. Bee's fun to hang around with though so nothing to complain about that. A week, sounds quick, it's only been about a week since your run-in."

"Wait! I remembered what Lennox told me! Are you okay? Did Barricade hurt you? Because if he did, I'm going to shove my blade so far up his aft-" I stopped him before he could get more graphic.

"I'm alright. Everything is sorted and fine. But let's not dwell on that."

"'Not dwell on it?' The Con that kidnapped you and threw you in the air to go splat on the ground contacted you! And you helped him! That's what I don't get."

"Sides, I'm tired after having to deal with an accident and don't want to argue with you."

"Squishie, I'm agreeing with my brother here and just as confused as him."

"Sunstreaker, please. I'll call you guys and talk about this when I have time. Or when you are able to go beyond the base. I'm tired and in need of some sleep. Please, don't argue with me and leave this call on a bad note."

Quiet from the line for a few moments. I hoped they would leave this alone and let it all blow off, maybe even forgetting it. I'm not the one for facing my problems and usually ran; that's one thing my mother taught me. "Fine, but we won't let this go so easily," Sunstreaker responded with a hardened tone.

"Thank you. Now if you excuse me, I have a nice comfortable bed to sleep on with two adorable puppies. Sleep good and don't let the bed bugs bite."

"But my chassis was better to sleep on, right? I bet it was." I rolled my eyes with the corners of my mouth tipping upward and hung up on him. Five seconds later, a text from said bot was received of him complaining about me hanging up.

Now, I had something to look out for: the elephant in the room.

A week has past, during that entire time I have purposely ignoring the calls and texts from the twins. I still didn't have a plan on how to handle the situation and was slightly running from it.

Bumblebee has been reporting to them about me since they've been worried about me. They really want me to answer the phone. Even Sunstreaker was calling and texting more the longer I don't answer.

Said scout and I were resting outside in the sun and soaking in the heat. Surprisingly, it was warmer than last week, which was down in the forties and fifties. Today, it's about in the fifties and sixties.

Out of nowhere, his holoform perked up and he snapped his gazed at me. "You're in trouble," he stated with a hint of fear in his eyes. I gave him a 'what do you mean?' expression and stood up from my chair, not liking the somewhat threat. "The Terror Twins have been given back their privilege to leave the base. And don't sound very happy about you ignoring them." Shit, this wasn't good.

Usually, it took about thirty minutes to get to the base but they'll most definitely speed. I began to pace as my brain thought over anyway too delay the inevitable. "There's not going to be a way to stop them, Brey. They worry about the ones they love and will protect them. You're in that circle. What I suggest is let me rant and get it out of their systems." Thanks a lot Bee, totally a great idea. Note the sarcasm heavy in that sentence.

Instead of fretting over it, I stopped pacing, took a deep breath, and nodded my head to calm myself. "I can do this." I turned my gave over to the holoform and tipped the corners of my lips up. "Thanks Bee. We just need to smooth something's over." He cringed and gave me an apologetic expression.

"Good luck with them. Optimus and Ratchet know how much of a servoful they can be." That's an understatement. For the somewhat small time I have known them, they have made that into an everyday thing when I'm with them. Sides the one who is usually the crazy one; sometimes Sunstreaker can be but mostly stays calm with the occasional fretting he does.

They are both caring and kind towards me and make sure that I'm doing fine in this strange and messed up relationship. They allow me to take my time in getting use to the two of them. For us humans, it's not a normality to have two partners, or in general more than more.

There's nothing truly to complain about them. Sides and Sunstreaker have their own personalities. They don't scare me that much anymore, either. The occasional touch my shoulder or hand without me paying attention to it will cause me to jump in reaction. That reaction was kind of is intergraded into my brain, it can't be helped.

So, in the end, I'll have to face them and let them rant about me ignoring me. Yeah, that was a dick move to do so and there isn't an excuse. I turned to Bee after going through my thoughts. "I'll be inside when they show up. Could you please tell them?" I questioned and whistled for the dogs. The two come bounding over to me and wait by my side, ready to follow me.

"Yeah, of course. You know, though, they'll be resuming their guardianship over you now since they're free from the base."

"Oh, dang. You were fun to hang around with, and sweet." I spread my arms out in an invitation for a hug from him. "Come one, give me a hug. Oh, and if the twins give you a hard time, tell me. You did well and have done nothing wrong."

A joyful smile made its way to his face. He took the offer and hugged me tightly. "Thanks, you were an easy charge compared to a teen I had to guard." I gave him a questioning expression. He raised his hand with a shake of his head. "It's a long story. Anyway, good luck and sit tight. You're going to have an earful."

We parted ways, him disappearing into shimmer of sparkles, and I heading back to my house with the dogs in tow. My nerves had calmed down even thought they weren't that bad out of control.

I sat down on the love seat with my shoes off, lied down, and put my feet on the arm rest. With a press of the remote, the T.V turned on and began playing the last channel it was on. The dogs went somewhere else in the house and left me to my own devices. Now it was a waiting game until the twins show up.

Not even seven or so minutes later, the powerful engines could be heard racing down the pothole covered driveway. Both of the dogs came rushing towards the door and crowded around. I only shook my head and returned to watch Murder Mysteries.

The two outside came to a screeching stop by the sounds of it and shut off their engines. Next the door was slammed open and here came the Terror Twins with their holoforms. The dogs took the opportunity to outside and left this to the adults. Sides opened his mouth to say something but I raised my hand to stop him. "Before you guys start, have a seat."

On the outside, I was calm, collect and knew what to do in this situation. It was the complete opposite internally. My heart was beating hard against my rib cage, my palms were sweaty, and my thoughts were all over the place. It going to be okay, they won't hurt.

Sides furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at his brother, confusion clear on his face. His brother shrugged and followed through with my suggestion. The red twin sighed with a pout and sat down next to his brother. "Care to explain why you didn't answer any of our calls or texts? Specially after we were informed by Lennox that fragging Barricade contacted you."

"We also learned a little bit more that you helped him! He fragging nearly killed you and you decided to help him. Please give a good pit reason on why you did that," Sides grounded out and stood up in anger. A scowled etched into his face with rage in his eyes. I lied there, unbothered by his words or action.

"Keeping your word, honesty. I'm all about honesty and loyalty to the bone. Optimus has shown that he is a bot of his word but sent people out to track Barricade. Yes, I know it's beyond my place to be even here, talking with you but shit happens. I'm here and well, I might as well help when possible. Your leader went against what he said and that's what pissed me off. I had a chat with Wild Bill and had everything settled."

"Primus, if we didn't like you as much as we do…" Sides trailed off and hissed lowly.

"Well, I guess I'm the lucky one," I growled and glared in the slightest at him. "I don't want to fight; it gets you nowhere and makes everything worse in the long. Just know I did this because I believed it was the right thing to do. That's my reasoning."

Sunstreaker stood up, walked over to me, and peered down at me. "Sit up," he ordered and left no room for an argument. I did what I was told and kept our eyes locked onto each other. He kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my hand.

The mech made no noise and had his head bent down. Then, he broke the somewhat silence in the room. "Aubrey," now this had to be serious," we care about you deeply and have told you multiple times. You're the only other person that I'll admit I care about. Think about your actions with the people in your life before you fulfill them. Barricade is dangerous, he nearly killed you and that's what gets our wires twisted."

His words made me think. I had never been this close with someone in my life; I had always stuck to myself because I rarely disappoint myself and could trust myself. You don't know someone's true thoughts or extensions before it's too late. I had learned that at an early age in life.

I sighed and dipped my head, not bothering make eye contact with them. Time to reveal a little bit more in my life. Trust, throw them a little trust and see what they do. And what they are doing is the complete opposite of what I thought they were going to do. "My brother and I were taught at a young age you couldn't trust anyone besides yourself. Not even each other."

"He stayed to his side and me to my own. Though, if our mother got really out of hand, we would protect each other. I never really had any friends, couldn't bring myself up to trusting any of them. You're lucky to be even able to touch me." Sunny looked down at our hands and loosened his hold which I grabbed on tighter, not wanting him to let go.

"My mother struck the fear of men into me. I was already an introvert and didn't like people one bit but she didn't help one bit. She brought over horrible, nasty, evil men to our home and bad things always happened to her. Then she'll act like she's the victim to get money or pity from others. It was really sad to watch but after time, my brother and I told each other she earned."

"She brought in those men and was asking to hit or abused by them. She came to us during the times where the boyfriend was gone and wanted comfort from her 'troubles'. God, I still hate that women to this day. For all I know, she's dead. We don't care though, she pushed us away." Talking about what she had done to us didn't bother me much anymore. I've grown numb to it and don't care about it either.

"That's why I act on edge with a man in the room. Sometimes Lennox, Dom, or Zeke will scare me if they do something I don't like… Wait, how did we start with talking about Barricade then get into my back story?" I laughed at the situation and gazed into Sunstreaker's eyes.

Neither of them talked and seemed to be processing everything that I had said. "Sorry for dumping that all on you." Sides shook his head quickly and kneeled down next to his brother.

"Don't, we're glad you decided to expose some of your past to us. But since the argument has been settled, kind of, let's go cuddle! We haven't had the opportunity to because someone ignored our calls and texts."

I glanced at the clock above where they were sitting and furrowed my eyebrows. "Sides, it's only eleven in the morning. It's too early to go to bed."

"It's never too early to cuddle. Also who said we were snuggling in your berth."

"The couch? Yes, let's totally put three grown adults on a small couch." Sarcasm was heavy in my voice.

"We can make it work, right Sunny?" Sides received a whap from his brother due to calling him that nickname. Ha, I was the lucky one that I don't get smacked for the nickname. "Hey! You don't sock Brey for calling you that but you hit your lovely brother? That's sibling abuse!" Sunstreaker pushed him away.

Sides fell to the side and gave a butt hurt look. "Meanie. Brey, back me up." I shook my head and raised my arms up in a surrendered way.

"I'm not getting in between you or picking sides. You are all on your own." After that, we somehow fitted three people on a small love seat couch and it was comfort. An A plus for us for figuring it out.


	30. Chapter 30: Out for a Drive

The movie that Sides chose had ended and in rolled the credits. I wasn't even paying any attention and didn't know what it was about. But he was happy so, that was that. Sunstreaker groaned next to me and sat up. Since I was somewhat in between them but mostly on top of them because that what's Sides wanted. When he moved, one of my 'main supports', I slipped down into his spot which was warm.

Sides took the opportunity, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me towards him. I was pressed against his chest with his face buried into the crook of my neck. "I'm so glad that stupid piece of slag is over," Sunny grunted and climbed off the couch.

"Hey! It wasn't that bad, right Brey?" Sides questioned and kissed my shoulder. I shook my head to stay out of it. "What? I thought you loved me." His voice turned to a child whining for a toy they didn't get.

I sat up and forced him to release his hold on me. "That's not wha- never mind. Come on, it's nice outside. We should enjoy it." I turned the situation from a fight and got off the couch to stand by Sunstreaker.

The gears inside his head were spinning before an idea came to mind. Sides sat up and gave me the puppy dog eyes. Uh oh, what was he thinking? "Could you give us wash?" That was the question I half expected to come from him.

"Maybe, I was thinking about cleaning out the barn in the back," I offered and heard the familiar whimper from the dogs. They were out there for all of the movie, hopefully they didn't dig any holes. One of those many holes, I nearly broke my ankle by falling into one of them.

Confusion was written all over their faces as I strolled over to the door and let the dogs in. Both of them went to their favorite holoform. "Why would you need to clean the barn?" Sunny questioned and turned to me.

A smirk graced my lips as I contemplating on telling them. That barn was in good condition but needs some TLC and has some big pieces that I wouldn't be able move by myself. Plus having more hands/servos would help get this new project moving. "I want to give you guys a safe place to transform. I want to be with the real yous. So if I get the barn cleaned up, you guys will have more than enough room to transform and move around."

Both of them turned to me, compassion filling their eyes. "The only place you can is at the base and that's not fair to you guys. You two are my guardians and are stuck to my side and I feel bad for you guys to be unable-" I was interrupted by Sides who stood up and shut me up with a kiss.

It had surprised me but nether the less, I embraced it and rested my arms on his shoulders. Sides pulled away after a few seconds. "Don't feel bad. We chose this, we knew what the restrictions were going to be. We don't care about having a place to transform safely. All we want is to be with you."

"Well, I'm still going to clean out the barn for you two. I'll request your help though."

"Then let's gets to work then. We only have about eight hours or so to get some things done," Sunstreaker spoke up. I placed my arms back at my sides and nodded to agree with Sunny. A reminder came to mind before we left my house, treat them both equal and don't favor one over the other.

I pecked him on the lips a little nervous and took a step towards the door. In return, he smiled and gazed at me from the corner of his eye. We left my house and headed to the barn, ready to get to work. The dogs followed us to said place and stayed in between us to get as many pets as possible.

There was no lock on the front large, wooden doors since there's nothing inside worth stealing. Their alt. modes had followed through the yard and watched out for dog holes that covered the ground. The holoforms disappeared from sight and they transformed into their bi-pedal form. I watched, still amazed of the movement.

Sides elbowed his brother with a smirk and motioned down to me. "I know, we're gorgeous," he said smugly and placed a servo his chassis which was looking much better. Barely a scratch and it was hardly noticeable if you weren't truly looking for it. I rolled my eyes at his words and yanked open the old door.

It creaked in protest but gave away to my strength and revealed a nearly empty barn with only an old piece of farm equipment in here. This is not as bad as I thought it would be, the land owner must have taken all the rest out. There were more machines and an old Chevy truck that would have been fun to fix up.

"This wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. I have a large tarp in the garage so we can cover what that is once we get it outside. Think you guys can drag it to the back?" I locked the door with a small metal hook so they would stay open.

"Anything for you, sweetspark." Sides winked and ducked into the barn since the doors aren't tall enough for them. "Just watch and learn how to please the femmes, Sunny." I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head at his words.

The mech grabbed the machine and pulled lightly, believing it didn't weigh much. Boy, was he wrong. His brows furrowed in bewilderment and he gazed down at it. "Uh, give me a moment." Sides tugged on it again and only moved a mere couple of inches. "Heh, it's heavier than expected. I got this."

His brother shook his head and peered down at me with a knowing look. He gently leaned against the door frame to watch Sides fail. I laughed and left them to their own devices to go grab said tarp. The dogs left their companions behind and decided to trot next to me.

It was quick trip to the garage and back to the barn. The scene when I rounded the corner was more than funny, it was out right hilarious. Sides had somehow flipped the machine onto his leg and was stuck there with a pout covering his face. I had to use the outside wall of the house to support myself from how hard I was laughing.

Sides' pout only grew in size and he crossed his arms over his chassis which made it even more hilarious. Sunny was also laughing at his brother's misfortune and not helping him one bit. Hey, the mech was acting cocky and needed to be pushed down a few pegs. Well, he was acting a little more silly than cocky but you know what I mean.

"Not going to question what happened here," I said and somewhat calmed down my laughing to small outbursts. "Now, Sunny, could you help your brother get out of his stuck between a rock and a hard place?" I threw in a joke and strolled up to the two of them. The red mech gave me a tiny glare in retaliation and pouted even more by pushing his bottom lip out.

Sunny grunted at my words with some mumbling but followed through with my question. "Hey, don't complain. The last time I looked in here, it was filled to the brim with junk and you're getting a place to hang out in. So it's kind of a win-win situation."

Once his brother was free and could stand back up, the two dragged the machine to the back of the barn so it was out of the way. I threw the tarp over it for protection from the weather and headed back inside of the barn.

"Welp, this entire project was much smaller than I expect. So what do you guys wanna do?" I asked and leaned against the door frame while gazing up at the two. "We still have a few hours left of daylight."

The red mech placed a digit on his chin and put on a thinking face. He's going to do something that I'm not going to like, isn't he? What else did I expect? It was Sideswipe and known for doing stupid things for the fun of it. Specially to Hide, poor Ironhide and all the pranks played on him from what I have over heard from a few of the bots and soldiers.

He shrugged his shoulders then winced when he moved his injured one too much. "Sill not use to that." His words could barely be heard due to him saying them so quietly. "Anyway! Well, let's have some fun then. Go out for a drive? I'll even let you drive if you want Brey."

That actually wasn't as bad of an offer then I thought it would be. "Sure, but-" I pointed an accusing finger at him- "we are following speed limits and other rules of the road. I'm an officer of the law, remember?"

"Fine," he groaned and threw his head back. "I guess we could, only for you though. Not even Prowl can make us follow those stupid rules." I felt pride and confidence grow inside of my chest at his words. It's something to feel proud of, I was the only one to have them follow the rules.

I closed the large door after everyone, including the dogs, and secured the building. The two bots transformed elegantly into their alt. modes. My eyes were glued onto them nearly the entire time. How can you not stare at two beautiful vehicles and bots? You simple can't.

Kodiak and Vivian bounded over their favorite twin. The male dog licked at the door handle and begged to be let in. She on the other hand whimpered and pushed her snout against the shiny door. I could only cringe at the dog snot and slobber being wiped onto his clean exterior. He's probably have me clean, that could be seen in the foreseeable future.

Both of the twins raised their butterfly doors and allowed the dogs to join them. Who should I go with? Sides did invite me to ride with him. I'll spilt the ride time equal with both of them. Being with both of them was going to harder than I expected because I have to divide my time and affection to them equally.

The driver side door for Sides folded up and invited me to join him. I jogged over to him and sat down carefully on the leather seats. Said door moved back down into place and locked me with Sides.

Kodiak was sitting somewhat kindly in the passenger side seat and sticking his head out the window, ready to get this show on the road. I stroke the top of his head before grabbing onto the steering wheel. "You can handle me as rough as you want." I could hear the cheeky smirk in his voice when he said that.

Blood rushed to my face in reaction of his words. I elbowed the seat since that was the first to come to mind. "Sides!" I whined. Cheeky bastard.

His chuckled sounded all around me and he tightened the seatbelt. "What? I was only telling you what you can do." Sides tried to make himself sound so innocent but we all know he wasn't, including his brother. I sighed and before pulling out of my backyard and onto the gravel road.

My dog stood up in his seat and stuck his head out as far as he could. Behind us, Vivian was doing the same with Sunstreaker and looked like she was standing on the arm rest attached to the door. Dog, you're going to get me in so much trouble with him. There's no doubt in my mind that Sunny is going to make me clean both his interior and exterior. At least it wasn't really cold out, that was a plus.

"Vivian's going to get me in so much trouble with Sunny," I commented and pulled out onto the main road. Within a few moments we were up to the fifty MPH speed limit with wind rushing through Kodiak's fur.

Sides chuckled again and whooped at the sudden acceleration of speed. "Why is that? He likes her too much to be or get mad at her." That I could understand. Even I have a hard time telling her 'no' because of her adorable face.

A quick glance in the rearview mirror told me that Sunstreaker wasn't excepting me accelerating so quickly. Yet, he had no problem catching up, his engine revving in somewhat a challenging way. If only we were on a close circuit race track that is the only place that would be safe to let lose. "I'm on the fence right now," Sunstreaker's voice filtered through the speakers of his brother's alt. mode.

"Aww, why's that? I'll take her if you don't want her anymore." Sunstreaker gunned his engine and secretly told him 'no'.

"Her paws are getting dirt all over my interior and there's snot on my frame. But you're not having her. You got your own." Well, Sides was shot down quickly. "And, Squishie, you'll be the one to be cleaning my interior and frame after this little drive." Knew it, it was kind of suspected that was going to happen.

"Suspected that," I commented and took a right to head towards the main highway nearby.

The purr of his engine was relaxing and add a beautiful Lamborghini, you have yourself a perfect combo. "So, how are things going at the base? Should I be expecting another trip to the base anytime soon?" Seeing Sides lying in the Med. Bay with a large injury and was knocked out was scary. It was something I didn't want to go through again.

Not a sound came from him. Shit. Did I say something wrong? Am I not allowed to know about that stuff? I was only human and did put my nose where it doesn't belong. "Er, yeah, sorry about locking you in our berthroom."

"I'm not sorry. It was for your safety. You've had too many run-ins with the slagging Cons. We worry about your safety due to your run-ins. They seem to be slightly targeting you and we won't let them get you, over our cold, offline frames," Sunstreaker grunted.

"Hey, don't talk like that. I'm nothing compared to you guys. You tw-" Sides came to a screeching halt and gladly put a seatbelt around Kodiak so he didn't go flying. "What in th-" I was interrupted again by the same mech.

"Don't ever talk about yourself like that." His voice was extremely low and dangerous, fright taking over any emotion. "You aren't nothing, you're everything compared to us. Optimus considers you an Autobot, a true Autobot. Not one of the soldiers Lennox commands." The Boss Bot thinks me as a one of them? But I'm only human and the only damage I could do is put a couple of bullet holes in their frames.

"But-" this time Sunstreaker cut in.

"No if, and's, or but's. You mean the universe to us, that's part of the reason why we are taking things slow for you. You're an Autobot, there's no way around it. You're a higher rank then a human on this planet. So don't think so lowly of yourself."

Now, guilt filtered in. I forgot to really think before I spoke. Sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble when words start flying out without me putting a thought put into it. I shrunk down in the seat and sunk my head in between my shoulders. I need to remember they care about me and don't like me talking shit about myself. Well, I can still do it when alone or inside my mind. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about my words.

Both of them pulled off of the road before any cars could come and didn't block the road either. "It doesn't make it right, at all. You still think about yourself that way," Sunstreaker grounded out.

Kodiak must have sensed my distress and turned around to comfort me. He pressed his cold nose against my hot face and licked me. I gently pushed his face away and made him face the other way. "That's how I grew up. My own mother put me down and I, of course, believed her. My dad was gone and my brother didn't want to get the mix either," I explained and crossed my arms over my chest subconsciously.

The red frontliner revved his engine dangerously and his speakers released a growl. "I'm done hearing about your creator doing stupid slag to you! Where is she so I can blast her with my cannon?" I decided not to speak for a few moments and let the situation build slightly.

"Dead. She was killed." I felt no remorse for my mother since she put herself into that situation. And she was barely nice to us any of the entire eighteen years we lived with her. I still respected her and didn't give her any grief but she still treated us poorly. It was her fault for doing it, Mama pushed us away and look where it got her. "She earned it though, she put herself through that, knew what it would cost her."

Silence took over all of us, none of us made a sound. It last a few long moments until Sunstreaker spoke up. "She got what she deserved. I would've liked to blast her into smithereens but at least she's offline and can't hurt you anymore." I decided to ignore him and somewhat changed the subject.

"That's why I ask of you to take it slow around me. The damage has been dealt and seems to be barely irreversible. That's why I speak of myself so lowly; I believe it every day because that's what my mama told me. God," I paused to leaned in back in the seat and throw my head back, " it's an every day struggle for me."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "I never really talked to anyone about what pain she caused me. I didn't realize how much I have hidden from everyone, how much I have buried to not even think about." I was defeated, my guard was down for both of them to see it.

Again, Kodiak sensed my depressive state growing and tried his way to get me to be happy again. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him and pushed him away. "Brey," Sides softly called out and the seatbelt tightened in a reassuring way. "If you ever need to talk about any of your problems, past or present, we are here for you."

His holoform appeared in the backseat and grabbed my hand. Sides intertwined our fingers together and looked straight into my eyes, confidence and reassurance filling his. "We are here for you. To the end of the line. Our loyalty is to you, not even Optimus could overrule that. Because we love with all of our sparks," they stated unison. It sounded a tiny bit creepy but nethertheless sweet to me.

This time the tears fell slithered down my face and dropped down onto my lap. These tears for a different reason though. My affection for both of them has been growing ever since we had met. Maybe, I didn't know but that small spark was there, expanding in size.

"You don't, of course, have to return our feelings. We just felt the need to expression the-" I had enough of Sides' rambling and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt then pulled him close to my face. Surprise and shock covered his features and it would probably grow for what I do next. I smashed my lips on his.

Sides, immediately, melted into the kiss and allowed me to take control yet grabbed my ponytail for some sneaky reason. I drew a groan out of him after biting his lip and pulled away, opening my eyes and releasing my hold on his shirt. His eyes fluttered opened. He gazed at me in a dazed state and licked his slightly plump lips. After reading a few books, you learn a handful from said books.

"I-uh… wow, I…" he trailed off, unable to form a complete sentence. To say that I wasn't scared of them anymore was a lie, but that fear will never go away and forever be stuck to me. I'm trying to get over it and let the other, happier emotions take over. That included romantic emotions and feelings.

I winked at him before stepping out of his alt. mode and strolling over Sunstreaker. The mech seemed to be getting on his last string of patience and out appeared his holoform. I let my emotions take the wheel as he hooked his arm behind me and pressed his lips against mine. It was a clear sign he was the one in control and maybe I could live with that, just maybe.

Sunstreaker then pressed me against the hood of his alt. mode, lips still moving against each other. "I've waited too long to do this," he mumbled against my lips and grasped a fistful of my hair in his hand. My ponytail already falling apart because of another mech.

Air for me was getting low and I had to gently push him away to gasp a breath of oxygen. Two moments later, he was attacking my lips again and trailing open mouth kissing down my neck. Here and there, he would scrap his teeth purposely against my throat to gain a groan from me. I wasn't complaining though and was taking it all in.

Is this what love felt like? Something I thought as a fairytale from the beginning? If it was, then I want as much I could take. It was an amazing feeling. These two, I trusted nearly entirely and that wasn't something I would do to anyone.

He sucked hard on the crook of my neck and drew out a moan from me. There had to be a large handful of hickies covering my neck by now from how much he was sucking. Again, no complaints here.

The golden frontliner pulled away and gazed down to probably admire all that he done to my poor neck. A cocky smirk grew on his lips. He pecked my bruised lips once more before straightening his stance and offering me a hand. I took his offer and was raised to my jello like legs. He wrapped his arms around me softly and brought me close to him. "I'm glad you've accepted us."

A smile graced my lips and I leaned into his hold, most needing it because of my legs but he doesn't need to know that. "Me too. I can do this, it'll be bumpy in the beginning but I can figure out how to divide my time and affection with both of you equally, I promise."

"You don't have to worry about that. We're spark-spilt and can feel what the other is feeling if Sides let's me." Sunny helped me to his alt. mode and deactivate his holoform. The butterfly door folded down into place. Vivian was sitting happily in her seat, tail wagging and ears pushed forward. "And don't complain, Sides, it's my turn to drive her around."

"Wasn't even going to say a word." It sounded like he was telling the truth. With that, we head back to the road. Sunny in control of the wheel since I was still dazed after the intense make-out session and it was our first one! What else did the mech have up his sleeve?


	31. Chapter 31: Trust

**School suddenly decided to smack me in the face and leave on the ground with a broken nose. Not literally, but you understand what I mean. Also, my school district is having us go back on the second of Nov. With things looking in my city, I think that's going to change.**

"Without a doubt, Tom Hiddleston is the hottest man alive on the planet," I argued and gazed over the one I was arguing with and lying partially on. Sides shook his head and gave an offended expression to me.

"As if! Sebastian Stan is! Sunny, back me up." He turned to his brother who was allowing the bottom half of my body to rest on him. Sunny quirked an eyebrow at him for being dragged into the argument. The "Avenger's: Infinity War" still playing in the back ground.

Sunstreaker shook his head in disagreement and paused the movie to answer Sides. "Neither are. Chris Evans is," he answered and started the movie again. The red twin gasped at him dramatically and placed his hand on his chest. I snickered at his misfortune and received an unheated glare from Sides.

An idea seemed to strike him and he went through with the idea. Sides suddenly wrapped his arms around my mid-section and pulled me as far away from Sunny as he could; which wasn't far since we were on the couch. My feet were the only thing touching him. Again, his brother raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Then wrapped his hand around my ankle and pulled gently but with enough force to move me.

Before, my butt was sitting in between them with my legs on Sunstreaker's lap and upper body on Sides's. Now, the latter had lost a little of his 'territory' to his twin. I had made it clear we don't own each other like property. I was fine when the couple of times they had come up behind me at random times, hugged me, and called me theirs. That was fine but don't try to control my life.

The yellow brother continued to pull until my butt was in his lap, now closer to him than before. Not an ounce of remorse on his face and only the smallest of smirks tilted his lips. "You lost, her aft is mine for the time being," Sunny stated, not giving him a glance.

My mouth hung open after he said that, surprise and embarrassment blooming inside of me. Did he just say that? He literally just sad that. Oh. My. Flipping-flapping gods. He peeked at me from the corner of his eye and the smirk grew a tiny bit bigger. I wanted to smack him for his actions and words but decided against it. The two would team against me and over power me.

Sides pouted and crossed his arms over his chest but fight against him. "Fine, but I want it next," he declared and smirked at my reaction.

"Sideswipe!" I gasped and smacked him with the back of my hand. "Can't believe you two." A exasperated sighed escaped me and I got off the couch.

"We know you love us," Sides teased and moved to where his legs where across his brother's lap. Blood rushed to my cheeks when he said that but I didn't oppose anything.

The dogs noticed me getting up and came to my sides, ready to play. I snatched the thick tug-of-war rope on the floor for them and held it up. Their eyes locked onto the rope and they immediately jumped up to seize it from my grasp.

Instead of letting one of them get it, I lifted it up just out of their reach before they could get it. Kodiak launched himself into the front side of the couch but shook it off to go for another grab. An idea did come to mine while playing with my four legged children.

A playful smirk grew on my lips. Sides saw it and gave me a confused looked then glanced over at his brother. The yellow twin must have felt the gaze from him and peered over at Sides, an eyebrow raised. I put my plan into action and tossed the rope right onto the lap of Sides.

First confusion then pure horror as the dogs scrambled over where the rope went. Neither of them had a chance to move as the two dogs launched themselves onto the couch. The next moment, their holoforms disappeared from sight. Kodiak was the first to reach the rope and snatch it for himself. Now, the movie was long forgotten about.

Their holoforms reappeared off to the side. "Two can play it that way," Sunny challenged and glanced at his twin with a nod. At that very moment, I knew I had fucked up and only choice was to run. There was a slight problem with that: there was two of them and one of me. I run one way, one will stay and the other will block the exit.

"Can't we talk about this? I was only playing, because that's what people in relationships do, right?" I nervously offered and backed away slowly. Sides looked like he thought about it.

"That's totally true but… I think we want to give some pay back." He smirked with a playful glint in his blue eyes. My anxious smile dropped the moment he said that and my eyes widened. Uh-oh, I was in big trouble now. He took a step forward and I took two back to keep my distance. "What's the matter?"

His voice was honeyed and trying to entice you to not worry. I sent him a half-hearted glare and ready myself to take off towards the backdoor. It was my only exit that was easy to reach within a couple of seconds. Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me, possibly knowing about what I was going to do.

It was now or never. I turned around swiftly and dashed out of the house as if my butt was on fire. "Hey!" Sides called out in surprise. The sound of the dogs pounding paws behind made me want to run even faster. They were going to catch me due to them having four legs compared to my two but it was fun to image them coming after me.

There were holes all over the yard from Kodiak and made running away harder for me. Who wants to break an ankle, not me! I heard from on the other side of the house the familiar sound of two powerful engines revving. Ah, crap. This was totally fair, yeah, uh huh.

Two more than familiar Lamborghinis appeared on both sides of the house, trapping me. The holoforms disappeared again in a sprinkle of sparkles. They stalked towards me and dragged the suspension out as long as they wanted. "Come on, you two! We can talk like civilized people, ya know?" It was worth a shot to try. You never know that they may follow through.

Both of them transformed after getting behind the house with smirks adorning their faces. "Nah, I think me and Sunny here want some pay back." Sides suddenly plucked me off the ground and held me in his servo. I fought against his hold and nervous stared at him.

"Sweetspark, we aren't going to hurt you. You don't have to look so scared," Sunny promised and strolled over to the barn. His brother followed along with me still in his grasp. It's not like I can go anywhere, the mech had a strong yet gently hold me.

At least he took in consideration of my smaller frame.

Sunstreaker carefully opened the barn doors without breaking the door handle and stepped in. We also entered the building. Sides sat down on dirt covered ground and set me on his thigh plating. "See, no danger here." I really wanted to kick both of them for doing that.

"If you were any other human or bot, I would've probably kicked you for doing that. Well besides Bee, he's too cute to be mad at," I grounded out and sat down with my legs going in the direction as him. "Anyway, why did you want to bring me here?"

The two glanced at each other, nervousness growing in the frames the moment after I asked that. It was strange to see the yellow twin getting anxious, he didn't seem like the one to do that. "Well, since it has been a week since you kissed us, we wanted to try something in our bi-pedal form with you. You don't have to agree but all we ask is to trust us."

Trust. Zeke told me to throw some trust to them and look where it got me. In a happy, content spot in my life compared to before. The love I get from Kodiak and Vivian is different, and this fills a different part of my heart. Another thing, they probably had run off by now. I sighed and nodded my head. "Alright, I trust you," I stated. It felt like bricks were lifted off my shoulders the moment after. "But! I get to ask a few questions after."

Sides cheered and threw his fist up in the air. I questionably raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything to oppose him. "Alright, it's a deal," Sunny confirmed scooped me off of his brother's thigh and gazed down at me, uneasiness trickling in his optics. What I didn't like that he was nervous with what he was about to do.

Timidly and slowly, the mech laid his metal, surprisingly warm lips against mine. All of my muscles tensed at the action and still, waiting for him to move. Sparks felt like they bloomed in my chest at the feeling. It was wonderful in the least.

He moved his lips against mine and tested out what he could and couldn't do with my small frame. The yellow twin pushed his oversized tongue to my sealed lips, asking for entrance. I granted him clearance and was surprised by the softness of taste that came with him. His tongue did taste like metal/iron, but it also held a sweet flavor to it.

After a couple of moments of French kissing, he dragged his mouth down to my jawline. I couldn't stop the groan that escaped my throat at the feeling. I moved my hands to his face plates and gently grabbed at what I could reach.

A noise of shock escaped him and caused me to immediately release what I had touched. I opened my mouth to apologize for touching somewhere that wasn't pleasant but he mech beat me to it. "Why did you stop?" his voice was higher pitched, compared to his normal deep tone.

"I thought where I touched had hurt you when you made that noise," I answered and bowed my head in embarrassment. Had I taken it the wrong way?

"Quite the opposite, Brey." His deep, 'manly' sounding voice had returned but now was lower by an octave or two. "We have sensors on the underside of our armor, kind of like human nerves. The sudden touch had surprised me. I wouldn't mind if you did it again, though." My face turned to the same color as Sides paint when he said that.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Brey." Sunny gently tipped my head up to face them fully, face still beet red. "If you don't want to continue, we totally understand."

I stood up straight when he had said that and shook my head. "No!" Then releasing what I had done, I composed myself before saying anything. "I mean, no. I'd-I'd like to continue," I mumbled but didn't bring up the fact that the attention is part of the reason I like this.

A smirk grew on his face and he pressed his lips against my throat this time. I timidly grabbed at the same plates and lightly touched behind. Hurting them was the last thing on my mind. I could feel him smile with his lips on my throat.

This encouraged me to press a little hard and received a tiny groan from him. The noises motivate me even more. I moved my fingers around some more and cause more noises to emit from him. He was nearly completely distracted from kissing my neck but snapped out of it to continue.

All of this went on for some time until he pulled away and his brother took his spot. "Usually, I don't like sloppy seconds, but this time, I'll take it." Sides plucked me off of Sunny's servo and place me in his. I gazed up at with complete shock that he just said that. He smirked and started what his brother began.

The red twin was softer with his actions, surprisingly compared to his twin. Sunstreaker was more forward with what he did and moved his mouth around much more. Which had covered my throat and the crook of my neck with their salvia. I didn't mind though, it was a fluid and could be washed off. "You're so soft," he muttered and pressed his lips into the crook of my neck.

Timidly with much hesitance, I touched the plate near his jaw line and saw his eyes flickered. He didn't seem to enjoy it as much as his twin but nevertheless allowed me continue. At least Sides was content with me feeling his face.

Time breezed past until the sun had fallen behind the horizon and casted us into darkness. I was worn out surprising after having a second around with both of them. Sunstreaker was more of the touchy-feely kind but held himself back for a later time. Sides was softer and liked to drag out moments for both of our enjoyment.

The time we had spent was amazing and I was enjoying myself and having fun. That was a first with others besides the dogs. That reminds me, they have been out here the entire time. Crap, those two probably have dug even more holes. But I had some more important things to deal with before anything else: asking the twins about the Decepticons.

Those bastards seemed to be on the down low, which meant they were getting ready for something big. I would like to know anything they could tell me so I could prepare.

I fixed my hair that Sunstreaker had messed with and regained my bearings. My breath was still erratic and uneven as Sides set me back down on the barn's floor and patted the top of my head, messing my hair up more. "So," he nervous played with his servos and gazed down at me, "did you enjoy… us?"

A kind and gentle smile made its way to my face. "Yes, I did. Thank you for showing and uh… doing that with me." Blood rushed to my cheeks as I said that but there wasn't really any other way to put it. "But, could I ask my question?"

"You already did but go ahead, I'll let you have another one." Sides had a cheeky smile on his face and placed me down on his thigh. I sent him a glare and sat down on his shiny red plating any way.

"What are the Decepticons up to? They have been very quiet and making me uneasy. I understand it's not my place to know so don't feel obligated to answer." I nervously played with my hands and only glanced up for a couple of seconds.

Silence took over most of the noises. I regretted my words the moment after but didn't do anything to take them back or dismiss them. My curiosity was getting the best of me and I really wanted to know anything they could tell me.

Sunstreaker sighed and was the first to break the silence. "You have a right to know, Brey. You're an Autobot. But the fraggers… have gone completely gone silent. We haven't heard anything from them in a week or so. All of us are on edge." That was understandable. If the enemy has gone radio silent out of nowhere, you start to wonder what they are up to.

"But, there's nothing for you to worry about, Squishie. We'll protect you from them, we promise. So don't worry about them." But I couldn't just drop the subject like that. The Decepticons have tried to kill me multiple times.

"You do understand that they have tried to kill me on many occasions. So I can't help but worry if they will try again but for some reason they are really interested in killing me," I noted and leaned back on my hands, still sitting on Sides leg plate.

"Yes, we do. But with us around, they aren't going to touch you with a thirty foot long pole. I think I got that metaphor right, right?" Sides stated sincerely. I sighed and gazed back up at him with defeat in my eyes.

"Fine, I'll let it go, for now. Let's head inside though, I have work tomorrow and need some rest beforehand." The two of them agreed and all of us went back inside, including the dogs. Speaking of them, their paws were covered in dirt and their noses were brown. Huh, I wondered what happen…


	32. Chapter 32: Fail

**Thank you so much, AyanoZonurai! I totally forgot FF doesn't like it when I paste it.**

Two weeks or so have passed since my confession to them and everything was going great. It was a fact that I was more chirpy and joyful now ever since then. I had let my feeling towards them be released and it took me to a good place in my life.

That didn't stop me from going to work of course. The criminals wouldn't stop because of a massive change in my life, they never do. How inconsiderate.

At the moment, I was sitting inside of my truck, in a parking lot next to a well known fishing spot. The famous fishing jackpot had a few people here and there since it was the middle of the week. Most of them were on the older end, but there were a small handful of younger adults around the lake.

There was even a tinier handful of them were drinking alcohol by the looks of the scene. It was midday, nowhere close to a reasonable time to be getting drunk but there's no law prohibiting it. Nothing that I could do about it. I guess 'it's five o'clock somewhere' for them.

"Psst, Brey," a very familiar voice whispered terribly through my radio. I snapped my gaze down at him with shock written all over my face. How in the hell did he connect to the station's radio?! I picked up my phone and decided to take the safe route by calling him. If Tipps ever heard of what he did, or what someone did, then she would have a fit. Can't blame her though, security is a big thing in the law.

Sides picked up the call a couple of seconds later. "Aww, why didn't you answer the radio? I was trying to be like you and Prowl, all into the law stuff and whatnot," he pouted and his engine made a sputtering sound.

"If Tipps ever caught wind of that… she'll probably put a few bullet holes into your frame. She likes keeping our radio a secret to everyone not inside of the job. But you can't blame her, can you?" I responded and leaned on the center console.

"She and Prowl would get along very well if the two ever met. Security this, security that. Before we met you, we had to do patrol outside of the base. If we went over five miles of the marked speed limit, then Prowl would lecture to us about it. You're not like that, right?"

They were in luck. I did follow the law, sometimes to the book but gave breaks here and there. If it's a first time offender with no other violations or warnings, I would only put a warning in that I talked to them about it. If they have a warning or two, then it depends on their attitude. Actually, it all depends on how they treat me. "No, I'm not. I'm fair and will give people chances to not do their wrong again. But Prowl sounds like a newbie. They usually follow straight to the book and give no chances."

That's a little strange to do that if you've been in the law for so long. Tipps is most lenient on many things but felonies? Every officer knows that those are serious and need to be taken that way. "Yeah, he sure follows every, single line in the book. But he's no newbie, he did grow up in Praxus so that's part of the reason," Sides explained.

Praxus? That's definitely not a place on Earth, plus he wouldn't be raised on Earth so it must be a city on his planet. "I'm guessing that is a city on Cybertron?"

"Yep, it sure is. It was an Autobot-controlled city and was the sister city to Nova Cronum since they looked super similar. The ruler of Praxus was an Autobot femme known as Halo. Never meet her and the things we heard about her weren't great. We never been to Praxus before, too many credits to reach there and it was destroyed during the war so it was pointless to go."

The conversation just turned for the worse for what he just head. Now it was awkward and I didn't know what to say to break the thick silence. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I'm bored need attention. When are we going to move?"

"Be patient, young one. We'll move in a little, rush hour for fishing is kind of over," I answered, put the call on speaker, and placed on the center console. It was a stunning lake to be at, that's part of the reason why everyone comes here. The rest is the fishing, mostly Bass, Perch, and Trout were stocked in the lake.

Sides groaned and sat lower on his wheels, acting a like a five year old who didn't get what they wanted. "That's too long," he grew out 'long' and rolled towards my truck.

Suddenly, Sunstreaker revved his engine lowly and stopped his brother in his tracks. Since he wasn't on the call with us, I couldn't hear what he was saying to him but probably not something nice. "I'm saying sorry to her, don't need to get your tailpipe in a twist. Sunny is making me say sorry for annoying you."

"It's okay but you need to be patient, that's how you catch the bad guys as an officer. Though, I have had a few come to me, by accident," I laughed at the memories of said people getting themselves caught doing wrong things. Patience is a virtue, that's for sure and the mech didn't have it one bit.

"Still boring. I don't know how you can wait here for hours on end without anything showing up." He's going to jinx it by saying that, I just know it. By saying that, it almost as saying the Q-word. You never say the Q-word because everything turns into chaos.

The next moment, my radio sounded off and alerted me of something. "You just had to jinx it, you just had to," I groaned and ended the phone call right as he tried to say something. The radio alerted me there was another accident, this time involving a horse. I started up my patrol truck and headed towards the direction of the call.

People need to watch out for horses; they are part of the pedestrian law/section and have right-of-way on the road. A small amount of anger flared up inside of me since someone had hit a horse and rider in broad daylight. Said horse would probably have to be put down if its injuries are severe enough.

I flipped on my lights and sirens to get to the scene as quick as possible. There weren't any officers on scene and the rider sounded extremely hurt. I wasn't the closest at the moment but more the merrier to take care of the injured and direct traffic.

By the sounds of it, the rider was hit on one of the back roads of Jay, right between Zeke's and I's boarder. Maybe, he'll get called to the scene and like last time so we can talk and hang out. We, including Dominick, have been trying to get some time together before spring/summer hits us. That's the busy season out of all of them, winter is a close second due to snowmobiling and other cold activities.

A strange feeling started in my stomach the closer I got to the scene and put me on edge. I pulled onto the road it was on and noticed fresh tire marks with dust slightly settling. Someone just got here.

"Aubrey! Decepticons! Stop, now," Sides commanded through the radio. I lurched to a halt and gazed away through the trees. The sound of metal screeching and being torn apart could be heard inside of the cabin of my truck.

My breath got caught in my throat. I saw a forest green patrol truck through the trees and took off again with fear gripping at me. Zeke was probably the closest out all of the Game Wardens and got caught up with the Cons. That still left me confused on why they decided to attack right next to- shit. This was planned, they got into our radios and called us in. The Cons must know we are friends with the Autobot's by now.

Both of them ordered me to stop from getting any closer but my friend was in trouble. I did stop, much later then they wanted, and stepped out of my truck, gun and extra ammo in hand.

Jazz was trying to fight off three Cons, the same three that attacked Dom and I then Crosshairs had to save us. The poor silver bot barely had a chance against them. I had to do something and did something the twins were going to yell at me for after all of this.

I aimed my pistol at the closest Decepticon, waited patiently, then fired off the first bullet. It hit the target I was intending to hit. Pride filled my chest as the Con cried out in pain when the small bullet struck his optic. The red optic shattered and went dark, meaning it was no longer working or online.

"Aubrey! Get back here now!" Sunstreaker shouted from behind me, anger with a slight hint of worry in his voice. Instead of following through with his command, I took off towards the cons so the twins couldn't catch me. I wanted to fight and protect my friend trying not to get captured by Cons or squished by them.

The purple one that I had hit locked his only good optic onto me, a scowl growing on his features. I glared daggers at him in return and quickened my pace over to Zeke. Said man was dodging to his best abilities as the Cons battled his guardian and tried to capture him. Not today, Cons.

Everything at that moment started to fall apart. The blue one was able to get many blasts on Jazz and forced the bot back. His armor couldn't resist the close-up shots and tore apart, pieces of metal spraying about. Jazz fell back with the strong blasts and didn't have the strength to get up. Now, Zeke was in big trouble.

All of the Cons optics landed on me, a smirk growing on all of their faces. "Get her, she's coming with us. Megatron has plans for her," the silver one commanded and took a few shots at the Terror Twins behind me. Trouble, and lots of it. At least the attention was drawn to me and away from him. It wasn't part of my plan, I changed it all together and was able to get around the whole group somehow.

If I could buy the twins and Zeke as much time as possible, then let's see how far I could run. From past records and experiences, it wasn't long since I was more strength compared to speed and stamina.

Both the purple and blue Cons came after me since the silver one ordered it. I glanced behind me to see where Sides and Sunny were and released a little bit of my pent-up anxiety. They were close, running as fast as they could behind the ones chasing me. They were also being shot at by the other one, who was trying to deter them from helping me.

Come on! Come on! My breaths were getting rougher after running a long distance on the small strip of road. That gave me an idea. Breakdown and Barricade had trouble getting through the thick foliage of the forest due to their size.

At this rate of speed, I wouldn't survive running much longer. My legs were crying to give it a rest but there's not a chance I could do that. There were two giant alien robots behind me who were commanded to capture. No, thank you, good sir.

Another glance behind me caused my blood to run cold and my adrenaline to spike up significantly. The two Cons were much closer than before, nearly in range to bend down and scoop me off the ground.

Said adrenaline gave me a boost of energy. I leaped over a fallen tree on the side of the road and passed through the tree line. By doing this, it had upped my chances of escaping. Maybe not by much but at least it was better than before.

Tree's cracked and sounded like they were getting demolished from the two trying to go after me. Gladly, the foliage was thick with trees close to each other. This gave them a hard time to come into here with me. They'll be picking out wood from their armor if they continue like they are.

Some higher being up above must have been hearing to my screams and gave me a little help. I continued to run for a little before my legs couldn't move another foot. My legs collapsed and threw me down to the ground. I glanced over in the direction of the road, unable to see but the bots fighting on top of it.

The two Cons had stopped coming after me and were dealing with the twins. Those two were battling with everything they had, seeming a like anger was taking over. They shouldn't be getting angry, it'll be their down fall if they let it consume them.

Dizziness washed over me while sitting against a tree. I felt like I needed to puke but didn't have anything in my stomach to do so. My breaths sounded terrible. You try running for however far I ran with Cons chasing you.

Sweat dribble down my face to cool my overheating body. The adrenaline that rushed through my veins disappeared and left me feeling beyond exhausted. But, the battle has yet to be won.

Sides and Sunny were still out there, fighting and trying to cut down the Cons. Wait! Zeke! Fear for my friend gripped me tightly in its grasp. Zeke was still out there, in the middle of it all. Unless, he was able to get away as the attention was drawn to me. I couldn't just sit here, hoping and praying the man was okay.

I shakily stood to my feet and gazed at the four fighting out there. Huh? I thought there were three of them? The noise of a jet engine above me answered that for me. There is three of them! Crap. I took off running again and ignored the protest of my legs. It was life or death at the moment and I wasn't going to let those fuckers win.

"Fleshling! Get back here!" he shriek in rage and gave chase after me. Great, lots more of running. Why are they going after me?! I haven't done anything to get them on my tail. Well besides, shooting at them the first time we met, shooting them some more and their buddies. I take that back, there are a couple of reasons of why they want me.

At least it was me and not Zeke or Dom. The former has a child and wife, he doesn't need to get hurt, or worse, killed by alien robots. His family doesn't even know about the Cybertronians. The less that know, the safer everyone will be.

The silver jet Con couldn't contain his anger and took a shot at me. There was no time to reaction as it hit the area behind me. My body went flying and smacked straight into a tree. I saw stars and couldn't even try to get up, my energy and will had left me.

He cackled to himself and took a moment to laugh about this totally funny situation. Until a large blade went flying and stuck itself into his stomach. The Con cried out in pain and attention was drawn away from me. I couldn't get up though, my battle was done for and I had lost.

"Squishie, I swear if you offline…" the wonderful voice of Sunstreaker trailed off. Joy and relief washed over me as the golden mech appeared in my sights. He did look worse wear but the dents and scratches could be fixed.

Sunstreaker gently picked me off the forest ground and made a quick escape to the road. His brother had held well against one of the Cons. The other was making a retreat into the sky and leaving the silver and blue one alone. When the blue one saw us coming, he took off after the other one.

"Jeez, lil' lady, ya need ta stop attractin' Cons attention," Jazz joked with pain evident in his voice. He was alive and okay in the least. I sat up with a grunt and searched the ground for Zeke. "Zee is shaken' up with a small servo of injuries but he'll live just fine."

"You on the other servo need Ratchet's immediate attention, not those damn Cons," Sides hissed and gently rubbed his digit on top of my head. "I really wished we were able to blow the slag head trine to pieces. And I lost my blade to Screamer." It was strange seeing this side of him, his darker, protective side. He's kind of acting like his brother in a sense.

I groaned, too exhausted to make a word or sentence, and lied on Sunstreaker's servo. Every single muscles in my body hurt, specially my back due to me being slammed into a tree. After all the run-ins with the Decepticons in forests, I was starting to despise trees but kind of on the fence with them. I also have a major headache raging, not fun being mixed with the dizziness.

Both of their blue optics clearly showed their concern for me. "It's going to be alright. He's on his way. It'll only be at most ten minutes. Just hang in there for us," Sides cooed and gave his brother a glance.

By the way my head was pounding and being smacked against a tree, it was a done deal that I have a concussion, a major one. Since it was such a big one, I couldn't pass out or fall asleep or else it would be really hard to wake me up. "Keep her awake. She has a major concussion," Jazz spoke up and somehow read my mind.

The sound of jets caught everyone's attention. "Are they coming back?!" Sides exasperated and drew his last blade out. "Jazz, can you transform?" The battle was not yet over, I guess but I was done and had no strength left to stand, let alone, run.

"Yeah. I'll get them out of here and taken to Ratch," Jazz answered and accepted me from Sunny's servo. "Hang in there, Bre'." I'm trying here Jazzy, a little hard with my feeling under water and my vision swimming.

Jazz transformed carefully and slowly around me and pulled up to Zeke's truck. The owner stepped out looking unhurt for the most part and slipped into the passenger side. We stared at each other, checking over the other for injuries.

Zeke wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. "I thought they got you," he sobbed. "The silver one had ordered the other to after you and I thought you were done for. I'm so glad you're alive. But what happened to you?"

"Zee, let the lady rest. She's been through the pits an' back," his guardian ordered and took off quickly. For what's about to go down, it's for the best to speed and get away as swift as possible.

My friend and coworker sighed in defeat and release his hold on me. He apologized and sat correctly in his seat. A moment later, we passed by where my truck would be. Horror flashed over both of our faces.

The forest green patrol truck had been demolished. It looked like one of the bots had been thrown onto it and was now completely unusable. Tipps was going to have my ass and more for what happened to my truck. I was going to lose my job, my career as a Game Warden because one of those damn robots squished my patrol truck.

Anger and horror grew inside of me at the sight. I wished my pistol could have done worse than shooting out an optic of that damn purple Con. "Your truck!" Zeke gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. Yeah I know.

The silver Pontiac drove past the destroyed vehicle as the rumble of jets grew thunderous, too close for comfort. We had to be at least ninety feet away from the twins. Jets were at their loudest when super close or after they pass you. I decided to glance in the mirror, nothing, then scan the sky around us for them. Shit.

Five jets flew above us, as if waiting for the perfect moment to attack us. We were outnumbered extremely and Jazz was already hurt enough. Sunstreaker and Sides were already combing their way through a few other Cons that appeared. I guess these five were sent to retrieve us. Were they still after me and why?!

As if on command, all five of the jets in disguise fired at us. Jazz dodged to the best of his ability at the rate of speed he was going at. But, in the end, there were too many to elude.

One of the shots hit right the poor mech on the hood. It caused him to spin out of control and come to a skidding stop. Both of the doors opened for us to exit and we were pushed out. Jazz transform and stood above us to protect from the incoming shots.

Every bullet that hit him, he grunted and gritted his teeth. Guilt swelled up inside of me as he tried to cover us from the rain the jets had sent on us.

Finally, it had stopped but they weren't done with us yet. They transformed and surrounded us, no room to run or escape. I weakly stood to my feet and glared with pure hatred at them. My gun had been long last, somewhere in the forest. Probably when 'Screamer' shot at me. So I couldn't help in any way.

"If ya think ya are getting' these two, then you're mistakan," Jazz growled and his servos turned into cannons. The leader of the group laughed at his words and motioned for the other to attack.

"We don't want both, just the femme. Though, both would be better for our cause," he cackled and blasted his own cannons at Jazz. The shot barely missed all of us and nearly hit one of his soldiers. Are these guys just as bad as Stormtroopers?

Jazz fired his cannons at him, successfully hitting the leader. This didn't take him down though, it would take a lot more than that. "Is that all you got saboteur? Pathetic." The next moment, the area that Jazz hit had exploded and taken him down, hopefully for good.

"Don't mess with a saboteur," he warned and aimed his cannon at another victim. This one had the smarts to duck as Jazz shot at him. Jazz glanced down at us. "I'll clear uh path for ya. Ge' ta tha forest. Tha others will be here soon."

More shots rang out and the mech was able to take down another Con. There's was a small chance for us to escape through the spot he gave us. One of the many problems at hand was I had barely any strength left to move. It took all of my will power to stand. Plus my sight was still swimming, I could barely walk straight if I tried.

Zeke gripped my hand tightly in his and gave me a side glance. I knew what was about to go down but couldn't follow him. Then he took off, dragging me with him. My legs didn't listen to what my brain was saying and gave out from underneath. That's when one of the bots took their chance.

I was scooped off of the ground and grasped in a Con's servo. Terror completely consumed. The stories the others have told me about them, I had a right to be scared, to be terrified of them. I screamed and kicked and moved with all I had left in a last attempt to escape.

It failed.

The Con took off the moment after. I saw the red and yellow frames of the twins and did what another person would, screamed for their help. "Sides! Sunny!" I cried their names for help. My voice reached them and both of them glanced up from fighting.

Rage and complete terror morphed their features. "Aubrey!" both called and stood there for a moment in shock. They couldn't reach me, I was too far up. They couldn't blast the Con down, the fall would kill me.

That's when I spotted the arrival the other Autobot's but they were too late to save me. The Con transformed around me and I was seated on the seat of the cockpit of a jet. He put the seatbelt over me tightly and took off quickly to get away as swift as possible.

I had been captured by the enemy. My survival rate had plummeted down to zero. Yeah, trouble, big trouble.


	33. Chapter 33: Help from an Outside Force

If I wasn't captured by a Con who is doing the cliché 'taking me to my leader' thing, then I would have enjoyed the beautiful sight above the clouds. The sun was getting ready to set in about thirty or so minutes, making the sky a stunning sight to gaze out. It was ruined by the fact this Con had captured me.

Every single muscle in my body cried in pain of all the running I had down today. It didn't help when 'Screamer' blew up the ground behind while trying to get away. My body slammed into a nearby tree and fell down to the ground. At least the twins were there to save me back then.

'Nothing to worry about, we'll keep you safe' my ass. Look at where I am Sunstreaker, in the cockpit of a Con, unable to escape. Even if I was able to free myself, the only way to get away was to jump. We were around five-thousand feet above ground. That was death and I had something to live for. Kodiak, Vivian, and, of course, those two.

Yes, I was captured while under their care but that couldn't be helped. They were outnumbered, Jazz was hurt and attempting to get us out of there.

Zeke! I scanned the other jets that escaped with us for my friend. All of the other cockpits were empty, thankfully. It was just me, like always. I had to figure a way to get out of this without being killed. There was always a solution to a problem but you have to find it, that's the hard part. In the end of all of this, death was hanging over my head.

At least Zeke wasn't completely caught up in this or else the escaping part would have been harder. The more people to save, the tougher the job became. How was I going to get out of here without being killed? The twins would be demolished that happened.

Those two care way too much about me and it didn't entirely make since. It had to be because of their past. Mine had made me who I was today and it was going to get me out of this sticky situation.

The only way to safely escape is when we reach their base. That's when I'll start thinking up ideas. Right now though, I needed to get some rest before the torture starts. It always torture this, torture that in these kind of stories.

My eyelids grew heavy to the point I didn't have the strength to hold them open anymore. I welcomed sleep to take me with open arms and gave a silent prayer to any god that would listen.

"-ake sure she survives or your helm will be the price," a grating and gravelly voice grounded out. Then after, the sound of sliding doors opening and closing reach my ears. Whoever that was didn't sound happy once-oh-ever at all.

"'Make sure she survives or your helm will be the price'," a fruity voice with a slight guttural tone to it mocked the first person. "Can you believe he wants me to take care of a fleshie, Breaky?! I don't know the first thing to them." I stayed still and silent to not alert them that I was awake, best to wait this out and see what they say or do.

"I have my dislikes for human but this one, I despise with a passion. She's the one that shot out my optic and Thundercrack's too. I will say she does have a good aim," another male voice, deeper than the second one. Well there goes more of my chances of escaping.

"Oh, she is? I never thought such a little thing could hurt a big mech as yourself," the fruity male voice teased. The other one grunted and sounded like he was pouting, probably was. I couldn't tell without moving. If I did, then any movement could alert them and that wasn't good for my sake.

"Shut it, Knockout. She had the slagging Terror Twins to back her up. From what I heard, that's part of the reason she is here. The other part is that Prime has deemed her worth enough to be an Autobot, not one of the soldiers that fleshie commands." Double uh-oh. I'm real far down the shitter with no room to get out. This wasn't good.

One of them growled at the mention of the twins. "I hate those two! They think their finish is better than me, especially Sunstreaker. I have the cleanest and finest finish of any Cybertronian. And when Megsy sent me out there to defend any of the mines, my paint always gets scratched by them." I snickered silently at the sound of his complaining and 'misfortune'. But regretted the moment after because the room went silent.

Shit, they must have heard me. "Flesh bag, if you're awake, I suggest make yourself known," the fruity voice warned and sounded not pleased with me. Not good, definitely not good.

I groggily opened my eyes and sat up to scan the room for the source of the voices. Two Cybertronians stood about thirty feet away, one of them looked familiar and other, I had no clue who he was. Breakdown is his name if I remembered correctly. He's the one I had shot his optic out and is a huge mech; bigger than the twins.

His optic was healed and was working by the sight of it. Maybe he won't have too hard of feelings for me about it. Even though he did say he despises me with a passion. It doesn't help they know I was an Autobot. That puts a larger target on my back.

They both narrowed their optics at me with disgust evident on their faces. I groaned at my sore muscles and glared at the two Cons. "If there any serious injuries to your frame, meat bag?" the red one questioned.

He was much smaller than his friend, only able to reach about his chest. His paint was like Sides, but with more of a blood tint to it. Just like Sunstreaker, he seemed to take great care about his finish. Could I charm my way out of this? Probably not with the way they were looking at me.

Wait, he asked me a question. Injuries? Maybe a couple of scratches but most of the pain was from my throbbing muscles. "No, I'm fine. And as if I would let you take care of my wounds even if I was hurt," I sassed and crossed my arms over my chest.

Maybe if I acted tough and not afraid of them, they won't try anything. Because if someone is snarky and confident, they usually have a plan to defeat you. Most of the time that works. Or like as of now, reverse sociology. "Megsy just wants you alive and staying alive. For all I care about, is you keeling over and going offline but my helm is on the line."

The red's partner sent a glare at him for a moment. "You mean both of ours, I'm your helper and he'll take mine too." Those words just made me not want to meet this 'Megsy' even more. Wait… Megsy? He must be talking about Megatron. Ha! Even his own soldiers don't entirely respect him. I don't blame them though, what I heard about him is horrible.

Red waved his servo to side as if he was physically brushing off Breakdown's words. "Nah, he's gotta have at least one medic on board so you don't have to worry about anything, Breaky." He just brushed that off like it was nothing.

The two of them were confusing me, especially the smaller one. "One moment, you were worried about getting your helm chopped. Now you're not and I thought Crosshairs was crazy with pushing Prowl's buttons," I quipped by accident without putting much thought into keeping my mouth shut. Probably the only way to stay alive here.

Breakdown and Red snapped their helms in my direction and glared daggers at me. Disgust still evident in their optics. "Keep your derma's closed, fleshie. You're below everyone on this ship," Red snarled. Did he just say ship?! Either we are flying high in the sky or in the middle of the ocean. I'm placing my money on the former but wished for the latter.

His words didn't scare me and I rolled my eyes with a bored expression. "If only I could toss you off this ship," Breakdown grumbled and crossed his arms over his chassis.

"Well, I'd rather not be here either but here we are," I scoffed and stood up, fighting against the throbbing in my legs. "Let's start over because the tension in the room is horrendous. I'm Aubrey, and you two are…?"

Both of them rolled their optics. Breakdown turned away and started to get to work on something behind him. "Fine, only because you'll be staying in here until Megsy needs you for his plan. I'm Doctor Knockout and this is Breakdown, my assistant," newly named Knockout grumbled.

A thought came to mind when he introduced the both of them. "I guess he break's them down and you knock them out?" It was a stupid joke/pun but worth a try.

Confusion grew on his face but the moment after, he cracked up and smacked his partners shoulder. "She has a point! I'm going to use that as our motto now." He's stealing my pun! I calmed down the second after. It might help me in my escape.

Breakdown scoffed and probably rolled his optics at the pun. After shooting his optic out, I don't really blame him for having a grudge with me. In my defense, I was protecting myself from him. The mech was trying to kill me. Silence over took us and plunged me into thinking of ways to escape.

Third POV Location: Missouri

The hidden officer sat on the side of the road. A person sitting inside, waiting for anything to come up on the radio for him to do his job. The department had gotten him a new patrol car and he was just getting his hands on the wheel. Everything was so different compared to his old vehicle. This one was high tech with everything in between.

Officer Norris sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, a bored feeling settling in his bones. It would be preferred to have small jobs to do over doing nothing. He would rather have this then the crazy stuff that sometimes went down.

His city was small, with a tinier force to patrol and rarely did anything happen. There were a handful of murders that did happen since the city is in the middle of nowhere. Trees and lakes surrounded it. The only reason it was kind of known because of said murders.

A beeping inside of the cabin alerted him of something. Yet, Officer Norris didn't know what the noise was for and gazed confused at the dashboard. The large screen which wasn't usual for Mustangs showed nothing to clear up his bewilderment. "What the…?" he muttered and smacked his hand down on the dashboard.

Usually hitting something made it work, miraculous. This time, it did quite the opposite. "Human! Quite it and be quiet," a voice commanded out of nowhere.

Norris jumped in his seat, scared nearly to death and scanned everywhere for the origin of the voice. He came up empty handed. "Who said that?!" he screeched.

"Knockout, what do I owe the pleasure of you contacting me?" the voice grumbled annoyed. The human in the driver seat sat bewildered on what was happened but kept silent. Whoever talking had told him to be quiet and he didn't want to piss them off. Officer Norris needed to do something though, like alert someone of his predicament. How though?

"Oh, why do you sound so displeased about hearing my voice? My voice is smooth and lovely to hear, and you know it," a fruity, robotic voice, Knockout, spoke cockily about himself. The officer carefully moved his hand towards his gun, centimeter by centimeter.

If whoever was talking, must have eyes on him. That's means, if they noticed or saw him going for his weapon, then things could turn for the worse. "Answer the question, Knockout," the first voice deadpanned.

"Alright, alright. You know that fleshie you were sent to retrieve? The one that shot out Breaky's optic, he's still mad about that." What were they talking about? Did they have a hostage? If so, Norris needed to act quick so the person could get help.

The officer of the law was stuck between a rock and a hard place with barely any wiggle room. "Yeah, Aubrey Lambert, she helped me a little bit back. What about her?" Aubrey Lambert? A female by the sounds of it and they must have her. The name wasn't familiar but that didn't stop him from moving faster to his gun.

"Well, Megatron has her." Every noise stilled.

Suddenly, Norris's wrist was grabbed by the seatbelt, then his other. They were held far away from the weapon, no chance of escaping the hold. The man opened his mouth to shout but another seatbelt wrapped around his mouth. Any noise muffled and barely heard to anyone.

"I don't care much about the meat sack but she did help me get the Autoscums off my aft so I kind of owe it to her. Do you have any other information?" What were 'Autoscums'? And why does this person/being keep naming the hostage as a piece of meat? Sicko.

He struggle against his restraints to get to his gun and out of the vehicle or whatever he was in. Stupid department for giving him a possessed car. Nothing he did though made any progress. His movements only caused the seatbelts to tighten and draw a painful cry from his lips.

"She's in the Med. Bay with us and okay. I'm glad; I don't want to touch her. Humans get a lot of sicknesses and I don't want to part of that. Plus all of their fluids they excrete. All I have to say is disgusting!" Knockout said in repel.

Why are these two talking about people like they aren't one of us themselves? That doesn't make sense. Unless… they aren't human! What the hell?!

"Yeah, yeah whatever Knockout. You and Breakdown owe me a favor for saving both of your afts from Megatron. Help me get her out and that favor is used." These names that they have for each other are ridiculous. But they don't sound like human by the way they are speaking about people/humans.

"Are you slagging kidding me, Barricade?! Megatron was hell-bent on getting the human. Now you want us to break her out for you," Knockout screeched and was pissed that Barricade was asking him to do that. Norris now knew the name of who is forcing him to stay but was still confused on how to seatbelt was moving the way it was.

"You owe me a favor. If you go through with this, we'll all be even. Are you going to go through with this?"

"I can't believe you are using your favor on a fleshie. But fine. We'll get you on the ship but that's all, the rest is up to you. We aren't going to get our aft's kicked because of you." Ship? Like a space ship or boat ship. The former meant they were aliens; the latter would screw up that idea.

"That's all I need."

"Luckily, tomorrow, we are landing at an energon mine in Wellston, Ohio. We'll be landing in about four megacycles. Be there when we do or else you won't be able to get close." Wellston, Ohio, Norris made sure to remember that city so he could alert the department there what is about to happen.

First off, he needed to figure out what are megacycles and how many will that be. "I'll be there. You better not screw me over Knockout or I swear-" Barricade warned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm totally shaking in my armor. Don't worry about me, worry about saving the fleshie before Megsy gets his servos on her. The Autobots did give her the title as one and will be treated as so while here. I do feel the slightest bad when he comes to pick her up, she won't survive here long."

Did Knockout, who seemed to not care about Aubrey, give her pity? That may help survival rate a little until he could contact the Wellston department about what is going on. Norris struggled more and yelled as loud as possible so maybe the other person or being on the line could hear him.

His movements didn't help once-oh-ever and made everything worse. The seatbelt tightened to the point it was probably cutting off circulation to his limbs. Norris cried out in pain and tried his hardest to escape. It was a futile attempt and was costing him his hands.

"Alright, I'll be there. Keep her safe to the best of your abilities, Knockout. Try to keep her away from Shockwave or else we all know what's going to happen to her." Those words caused a shiver to go down Norris's back even if he didn't entirely know what could happen.

Then the called must have ended by the monotone two second beep. "For the love of Unicron! Stop moving or I'll blast you into the next decade, human!" Barricade shouted at Norris to stop struggling against his hold.

Norris's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Even though he heard the voice talking to another, it was shocking for it to be talking to him.

The seatbelt around his mouth was removed and allowed the man to breathe properly. The moment he got his breath back, he started to yell at Barricade this time. "What in the hell is going on?! Who even are you-no. What are you?!"

If the mech was in bi-pedal form, he would roll his optics at the questions. "None of that matter's. Since I can't hurt you due to a deal I made, I'm going to leave you on the side of the road. Don't repeat anything you heard because if you do, no one will believe you and you'll be made fun of for thinking that way."

He stilled in his seat, the words hit him with the truth. If he did try to say that there was someone kidnapped in Wellston with no proof because hearsay, it wouldn't work out. Plus they'll ask who did he get the information from, all he could say was his patrol car. That would definitely get him thrown off of the force. The voice was right.

The driver side door of the mustang opened and a breeze of cool air washed over Norris. It was still cold out even with Spring here. "Get out," Barricade ordered roughly and all of the seatbelts released him. Norris stepped out without putting much of a fight and stared at navy blue mustang drive off without a person to direct it. How in the-?


	34. Chapter 34: Rage of the Worst Pain

**I am so sorry for missing not only one update but two. Things got out of hand, school is now hounding on me and the election got the best of me. I was freaking out on who would win. I'll post a second chapter this week on Friday as a make up. Thank you all for waiting patiently or impatiently! **

Still 3rd POV Location: a back road

Worry is what Jazz when he saw Aubrey fall to the ground. His charge was trying to get up and away from the Decepticons around them. Her energy was depleted after running from the pit spawned Cons around him. There wasn't anything he could do. Three other Cons stood against him and he needed to offline them all for the humans' safety.

Defeat is all Jazz could feel as he saw Aubrey get scooped up by one of the three Cons. Anger filled him the next moment. His frame moved all on its own, fighting through the pain flaring in his system.

His charge was left on the ground as the three surviving Cybertronians flew away from the scene; the human woman still in their grasp. Jazz picked Zeke off the ground for his protection in case they came back for him.

All the mech could do was watch the afterburners of the jet blast away. Aubrey cried for the twins in hope of receiving help from them. None of them could take the risk of blasting one out of the sky. If they did, the jet would crash and possibly kill Brey in the process.

The twins snapped their helms in the direction, pure rage morphed onto their face plates. In unison, they shouted back with a call of her name. For a moment, Jazz thought he saw their optics flicker red. Uh-oh, he was going to be in trouble if they revert back to their gladiator mode. Two things could only stop them if they did: manually putting them in statis or Aubrey.

Jazz couldn't do that in his state and with the human in servo and Brey was taken. That's when the familiar sound of engines coming towards him. He glanced behind him and sorrowfully sighed as the group he called for just arrived. Five kliks too late.

They transformed and surveyed the scene. Optimus and Ratchet the first to approach him. Jazz held out his charge for the medical bot could check him over and take care of any injuries.

Off to the side, the twins were venting extremely hard where their shoulders were rising noticeable with each intake. Their optics bored into the sky, the jets could be barely seen. There was nothing they could do at the moment to get her back and they knew that, that's what was pissing them off even more. Their sparkmate was taken from them right in front of their optics.

Again, their optics flickered red and nearly stayed that color. The Autobots must act quickly or they'll have two problems on their servos.

Optimus looked around Jazz then glanced at the Terror Twins. Confusion struck him, why were they acting that way? Then realization. Aubrey wasn't in sight and the two were covered in energon so they wouldn't risk injuring Brey. The defeat and destroyed aura that Jazz backed up that thought. "The Cons, they took Bre'," is all Jazz said.

The poor mech felt like a failure for not keeping Aubrey safe. Sides and Sunstreaker placed her safety into his servos. Jazz felt cleaning fluid building up at the ridge of his optics. His visor thankfully blocked anyone from seeing him in that state.

Horror and shock passed over Ratchet's face. Optimus though already figured it out before hand. "Let us leave and gather our bearings back at base. We will discuss there on how to retrieve Miss Aubrey from the Decepticons," Optimus ordered and turned to face the still raging Terror Twins. A slither of fear ran through him. Even the big bot was scared of them; they were a force to be reckoned with.

"Lennox is going to glitch when he hears about this," Ratchet stated the obvious.

"That's an understandment. He's goin' ta probably weld our afts ta tha ceilin'," Jazz mumbled and noticed Optimus still facing the twins. "They aren't takin' it well. Do ya think we hav' ta put them in statis?"

Optimus sighed. "The decision is up to Ratchet. He knows them best." Said mech glanced up from checking over Zeke and watched the raging twins. Ratchet cringed at the sight of them. Those two didn't need to be put through more pain, they already had lost enough. Why did Primus keep taking from them?

"I'll try to talk to them but if it doesn't work out, then I'll put them in statis," Ratchet answered before handing Zeke back to Jazz and approached Sides and Sunstreaker. Optimus and Jazz stayed back, far away from them. They have seen them out in battle many times, they cut through Cons like they're nothing.

The Autobots were lucky to have those two on their team. It might be a possibility they be the only thing keeping them afloat.

The leader of the Autobots and the third in command watched as the two thing unraveled right in front of their optics. At first, it seemed like Ratchet was able to calm them down a little before saying something they didn't like. That pissed them off more and tried to attack the Medic. They must have never heard of the saying 'never mess with the CMO'.

Ratchet was able to put them both in statis pretty quickly before they got too out of servo. This meant when everyone got back to base, those two would be put in the Brig for their own good. If Optimus let them go run free around the NEST base, it was a possibility they would go after the Cons by themselves.

Running into the enemy's base was a terrible and horrible idea but to save who they loved. To them, it seemed to be the only way.

Back on their own land, Sides and Sunstreaker were put into the brig and brought out of statis. As a natural reaction, they freaked out and nearly blew the other up. Their optics met Prowl, Optimus's, and Ratchet, sorrow in two of three of them.

Both of them rushed up to the bars and scowled at the three. "Let us out! The Cons have Brey and we need to go save her," Sides growled, optics again, on the verge of turning red. HIs gladiator coding ready to put into action with his brother just one line away.

"No, we're sorry but this is the only way to ensure you don't leave the base. Megatron would use her against you," Ratchet argued but apologized that things had to go this far.

"First off, we need to find their ship then form a plan to retrieve her," Prowl intervened and crossed his arms over his chassis. He would never admit out loud that he felt bad for the two. Aubrey was a beyond special femme to all of them. A loyal, strong-willed femme who earned the title as an Autobot. Said title and relationship are what got her caught.

The Cons were more focused on her and paid little attention to Zeke. Jazz was relieved by that since he cared about Zeke and his family. Talia would be devastated about losing her husband in the line of duty. That's what they would have to tell her.

"I don't give a single slag. We will search this entire mud ball planet to find her," Sunstreaker seethed, optics on the verge of turning full blood red. "She is our sparkmate and over our cold, offline frames we'll let Megatron even look at her."

His words were truer than ever. Both of them were ready to face the leader of the Decepticons and offline him if it meant the safe return for Aubrey.

Optimus sighed and wanted nothing more for this war to be over. Yet, his brother, one he at least considered to be, won't let go of his goal to destroy the Autobots. In the end, when all shall be one, hopefully Megatron will see reason. "Once we find their ship, we will let you out but you must listen to my command. Her life is on the line," he cleared.

This, of course, didn't sit well with the two and they both snarled in reaction. That's when the last coding finally was inputted and all pit broke free.

Blue optics turned a deadly shade of red. Sunstreaker released a horrifying, guttural roar and punched the wall closest to him. His brother reached out to grab one of the higher-ranking bots but they moved back just in time.

The cell they were in was specially made for them; they have been in there a few too many times. So there wasn't any worry to them breaking out and hurting somebot or human.

Again, Optimus sighed for the fifth time today and turned to leave. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker would calm down after awhile and you couldn't reason with them in their state. Prowl followed the moment after and Ratchet stayed for a couple extra seconds. Sorrow building up inside of him at the sight of the twins. Then he caught up to the retreating bots.

Little did they know, they have a helper on the inside.

Hours later at the base… "Lennox! We have locked onto their ship!"

Barricade sat underneath a bridge, near the small town of Wellston. Today was the day of rescuing the human. The logical side of his processor told him to turn tail and run. Why would he stick his neck cables out for a flesh bag?

A human, the ex-con was saving a human from the clutches of Megatron. His actions would be seen in the Autobots optics as good and maybe they'll let him hid there. After he fulfilled this, Megatron would send a whole fleet after him to end him.

The way that Megatron talked about capturing the human gave the clue she was important. Aubrey did help him get away from the Autobots and stuck her neck cables out for him. But still, Megsy was going to have double security wherever she'll be. He'll probably have Soundwave watch over and nothing gets passed that bot.

His frame shock at the thought of the dangerously silent mech who is rumored to be able to beat Megatron. That means something, Megatron was a gladiator in the Gladiator pits and was undefeated.

If Barricade remembered correctly, the system for retrieving energon was easy to remember and terrible though. Since Megsy is too cocky, he believes the Autobots won't try to steal or attack any of the mines. This meant there were barely any Con guarding them and only miners who rarely got out to battle.

This gave the ex-con a chance to slip around the guards and sneak on the lift. That was going to be the hard part. The lifts are small and no room to hide. His best bet was to take out the next round of guards going up to the ship. That actually sounded like a good plan for once.

Let's just say his leaving of the faction wasn't very quiet or subtle. He made a huge scene and painted a target on his back strut for the rest of his life.

The mech had to extremely carefully about his plan. One mistake and it's his helm on the line… It was now or never. Barricade knew he couldn't leave behind the femme to deal with the Decepticons. He was once part of them and understood what did to Autobot prisoners. She would be treated the same, no matter her being human.

He pulled out from underneath the bridge, dread already growing in his tanks. What was he thinking?! Saving a fleshie! If only his creator and sire could see him now.

To the naked optic, you couldn't see the giant hovering space ship over a makeshift mine. If you looked hard enough though, you would be able to notice the strange outline of it. That's where Barricade was heading.

The pavement under his tires turned to gravel then dirt the longer he drove on it. The trees around him grew wilder and out of servo compared to ones closer to the main road. He continued though, no matter how much he didn't.

Not long after, he heard the somewhat familiar sound of energon drills and stopped. This is where he had to be the most careful or Megatron would have his helm, literally.

Barricade transformed quietly and snuck through the forest towards the noise. The loud sounds they were making would draw out his pedesteps over there. The dread in his tanks kept growing and not disappearing all together.

Quieter than a cyberfox, the mech was able to dodge around the miners and hide close to the lift. How he was able to do this, he didn't even know himself.

Just like how he thought out his plan, the next round of miners taking the energon up to the ship came along. Time to fulfill this stupid plan of his and save the pit spawned meat bag. Barricade lunged forward the moment they entered the lift and attacked.

The door closed behind him, incasing him into the lift and it began its short trip up to the ship. The miners were shocked at Barricade's appearance and said ex-con took the opportunity given to him. As to not alert everyone of him showing up, he used his fist to knock them at least to the floor.

Next, he jabbed his only blade into the chest of one of them while the other watched. That miner watching knew he was next and was going to be offlined. He turned his com link on to contact one of his higher ups about the ex-con but a blade stopped him from doing so. That was close, too close for Barricade. The mech was nearly discovered the first two kliks he was on the lift and wasn't even on the ship, yet.

A heavy sigh escaped him after defeating the two. Barricade waited for the lift to get up to the ship with weapons ready. There might be guards on the other side and he had to be ready for them.

As if Primus was on his side, there weren't any guards. Now, it was time to get to the Med. Bay where the fleshie is hopefully. He couldn't contact Knockout or Breakdown in fear of the T.I.C would intercept the com. link. That would blow his cover big time.

Down the hall, Barricade could hear the sound of pedesteps come his way. Where he was is a dead end with no places to hide. Now he was screwed. The more guards/miners he took out, the higher the risk of being caught grew with it. Also, Screamer did make his 'normal' rounds to the mines to ensure everything was running smoothly. He was probably stealing some energon for himself and hiding it.

Since there was nowhere to hide, his only option was to take out whoever was coming his way. So, Barricade raised his weapon, steadied his vents, and stared intently at the door.

The door slid open. Barricade attacked first, asking no questions but stopped the moment a large gray servo grabbed his wrist. Uh-oh. HIs optics found the familiar face of Knockout and Breakdown. The two of them didn't seem very pleased. "You almost scratched my paint! And we're the ones trying to help you. The audacity!" Knockout scoffed and crossed his arms.

Barricade's speeding spark slowed down after noticing it was them. Breakdown released him and stood there, a bored expression on his face plates. Then the ex-con noticed the fleshie he was saving wasn't with him. "Where's Aurbrey?" he questioned.

"Back in the Med. Bay. Megatron ordered to have a device connected to her leg so if she tried to leave the Bay, an electric shock would stop her and an alarm would go off. Also, you should hide your signal a little better. The only reason we came here is we were expecting you," explained Breakdown. Barricade nodded his helm in thought.

"Alright, let's get going so I can get off of this ship as quick as possible." With that, the three headed towards the Med. Bay. All on the lookout for any of the guards patrolling. Primus, if somebot found Knockout and Breakdown sneaking a fugitive on board, well, all pit would break lose. Let's just say, all of them would lose their helms to a higher bot.

The three of them rounded the corner carefully, a few hallways away from the Med. Bay. Knockout and Breakdown immediately crashed into another bot. At first, they believed it was a guard and had been caught. No, but who they ran into wasn't on their side.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker noticed the ex-con behind, anger rising more in their system. Their sparkmate had helped the bot 'escape' from the Autobots and here he was.

In unison, Barricade and the Terror Twins growled "what are you doing here?" to each other.


	35. Chapter 35: Off and Away

When Lennox had heard about his family friend of years, what was in his hands were dropped to the floor. At first, all he felt was shock. Aubrey, a woman he considered a sister had been captured by the Decepticons. Then a wave of forlorn hit him and tears welled up in his eyes. Rarely did he show emotion in front of his soldiers but this time, he couldn't hold it in.

Epps was standing next to him when the news was delivered. Him and Aubrey were good friends. Before the Autobots and Decepticons came, the two with Lennox and Fig would hang out regularly. Then the aliens had to come and shit on his plans.

Just like his friend, surprise was the first thing he felt. Epps had to lean on the railing in front of him, eyes wide as he stared down to the floor. Optimus continued to speak about what Jazz had explained but both of them tuned him out.

Moments passed, that's when Lennox snapped and no long could contain his anger. Many would name it unprofessional, especially in the military but his friends and co-workers would give him a pass this time.

Will threw his fist down on the closest table to him and created a loud bang. Optimus stopped relaying the details at the sound and silence over took everything. Epps shook himself free from him shock and gazed sorrowfully at his great friend. All he wanted to do was have Aubrey back here safe but that was the entire problem at the moment.

Then, the captain of the team below him turned back to his soldiers, rage evident on his face. "I want every, single person watching for Decepticons to try harder." Lennox now sounded scary by the tone of his voice and surprised everyone around him.

Optimus was now worried about the human and believed his anger would get the best of him. "William-" he tried and turned to face him on the catwalk.

"Don't! We need to find their ship and save Aubrey before they-" Will choked on his words, unable to finish his sentence. Everyone who knew the woman knew what would happen to her if they didn't reach her soon. The Decepticons are known for their death and destruction.

The leader of the Autobots didn't speak and understood the pain he was in. Optimus has been through it many, many times before.

Everyone, including the other Autobots in the hangar, was completely taken away by Lennox speaking that way to Optimus. Never have they heard him use that tone of voice towards Boss Bot. Many of the rookies were sure the big bot would crush him under his pede. The other Autobots weren't scared to threaten to do that, why would their leader be any different?

Lennox dismissed everyone from the relay of what happened and marched back to his office, seething in anger. What he would give to have the ability to tear Bucket Head into tiny little piece and use them to build a toaster. He has so much on his shoulders right now for a human; some of the bots knew it was time for him to blow a gasket.

The man slumped down in his chair as a few tears prickled his eyes. Would they be able to save Aubrey in time? When they got to the ship, would it be too late? Is she already dead?! Questions about his friend of years zoomed around in his mind.

Sarah and Anna didn't even know about this. He didn't know if he had the gut to tell his daughter that her aunt may never come back. That specially broke his heart. Both of them would be heartbroken. Yet that thought made him even more determined to fine Aubrey.

There was no denying it, Will was terrified of the end result of this. Time was not on their side as always, it never has been. The same question running through his head: would she survive?

Another question popped up in his mind: how would her sanity be? If they torture her like they usually do to other Autobot's, her sanity isn't going to last. They had to find her within hours and form a plan in less time to save her. God, what had he gotten himself into?

It also doesn't help that her patrol truck was crushed in the battle. Will was going to be forced to call Tipps, someone he didn't get along with, and give some lie to cover Brey's disappearance and destroyed vehicle. He groaned and banged his head against the table top.

How was he going to lie about that? Military experiment gone wrong? Or go with the truth? Yeah, that was a big fat no.

A phone ringing disrupted the silence in his office. Will grabbed his phone off of his belt and answered it without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?" he grumbled and leaned back in his chair.

"Major Lennox, good to hear from you." Uh-oh, the person he didn't want to hear from: Kolette Tipps. "I'm going to get straight to the point: have you heard from Aubrey. She isn't answering her radio or cell phone and the GPS tracker in her truck is disabled so we can't track it."

He had made sure that the tracker had been turned off before bringing it to the base. It was part of protocol to clean everything up at the scene. And leaving a truck that looked like something big sat on it wasn't good on his record. "Same to you, Kolette." Best thing to do at the moment was lie. "I haven't heard from Brey. Do you know if she is okay?"

"That's why I was calling you. You're a friend of hers and thought you may have an idea of where she is. This is very unusual for her." That was the truth. She made sure to call into dispatch and alert them about her taking a potty break or lunch break.

"No, I haven't talked to her in a day or so. I've been busy working." That last sentence was terrible but needed to throw in the fact he totally didn't know where she was.

"Alright, thank you, Major Lennox. If you see or hear from her, contact me and made sure to keep an eye out for her." Then Kolette hung up. Will released a heavy sigh knew things were going to turn for the worst. Aubrey works for the state which is connected to the government. The news may catch wind of this and bring it out for the world to see.

Time past and Will was getting more and more anxious in finding her. He had moved from being in his office to back in the main hangar. This is where many of the computer specialist were working their hardest in a desperate attempt of finding Aubrey. Would it be enough? Time would tell.

Next to him was his good buddy Epps. Said man could feel the distress rolling off of him in waves and couldn't help but feel the same. Nearly the same thoughts of Will were running through his mind, especially about her survival.

Maybe luck was on their side when a shout rang out: "Lennox! We have locked onto their ship!"

Prowl was tactical and had backup plans for backup plans. The moment the news was given about Aubrey, he straight away got to work on forming a plan; who to send in first, who to have pick up the femme, and lastly, their escape.

The mech was questioning about letting the Terror Twins to come with them. Yes, Optimus did give them permission to join in on the plan but they wouldn't listen to reason. The two of them never have nor will they ever. They're irresponsible, play pranks all the time, and cause trouble.

But, Aubrey has helped calm their wild attitudes. Sunstreaker has been more lenient about being around humans and doesn't always give off an aura that he wants to blast them all. His brother isn't playing as many pranks when they visit the base. The femme has done an amazing job controlling them.

If they didn't retrieve her or she ends up offlined, Prowl feared what the twins would do or turn into. She was the first one to break past their strong barrier, especially Sunstreaker. That mech despised humans with a passion.

He decided in the end to allow them to come along on this rescue mission. It did increase their odds of retrieving her. They were frontliners and were meant to destroy anything that came into their path.

"Optimus, I suggest we leave now before they have the chance to take off. They'll soon know we have locked onto them," Prowl stated and glanced at the largest bot in the hangar. Optimus dipped his helm and turned to face Lennox on the catwalk.

"Are your soldiers ready, William?" Optimus questioned and knew his own soldiers were. Lennox answered with a nod.

"Yes we are. Sal, sound the alarm and call Alpha through Delta teams to hangar thirteen. Let's save Aubrey." The man called acknowledged the command and followed through with it.

The loud Decepticon alarm rang out through the entire base and calling for the teams Alpha through Delta. Soldiers rushed from every corner of the base, the ones that were being called for battle. Hangar thirteen was their destination. Time for Aubrey to be brought back.

Anxious and seething anger, the Terror Twins sat in their alt. modes, heading towards Wellston, Ohio. After their Gladiator mode had been activated, time was a blur until they finally calmed down. Thankfully in time too. Prowl had walked through the brig doors and announced that a soldier had locked onto the Con's ship.

This was the opportunity they were going to take to the fullest.

Both of them were keeping track the miles it was taking to get to the ship. Primus, their nerves were buzzing with excitement to take out some Cons and save Brey. All they wanted to do was hold her and keep her from harm's way for the rest of her life.

Less than two hours pass and now their plane was coming up to the town. The plan that Prowl put together is to send the frontliners in first, their job is to take out as many Cons as possible. After clearing a way, team Alpha and Beta will board with Ironhide and Crosshairs. The sudden wave of Autobots on the ship will overthrow things. This meant, the Autobots must act quickly.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker glanced at each other after transforming, a cocky smirk growing on both of their face plates. A jetpack on both of their backs and their signals untraceable by the Cons. This wasn't what they are use to but they'll do anything to get Brey back.

Even though Prowl and Prime made it clear for them to follow through with the plan, they made up their own while sitting in the brig. They weren't going to stand by after clearing a path and were going to be the one to save her. Screw Optimus and Prowl, the leader of the Autobots couldn't command the Terror Twins to do anything but save Aubrey.

Sunstreaker glared at the three humans standing around in the cargo space. The mech hated humans still even if he loves one, she was an exception. At the moment, he was on his way to save her, you get the idea.

"You ready to kick some Con aft?" the red Autobot knocked into his brother's shoulder. A sadistic look appeared on Sunstreaker's face plates. Both of them were more than ready to destroy anyone and anything in their way.

The moment the ramp lowered and wind was rushing into the cargo hold, the frontliners were sent free. That's when both of them shut off their com. links so none of the Autobot's could contact them. The two only needed each other to retrieve Aubrey.

With their signals untraceable at the moment, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were able to fly down to the flight deck, undetected. Surprisingly, there weren't any Cons patrolling up here. Where were all of them?

Swiftly and silently, they snuck inside the ship and carefully rounded corners. First place the Cons were keeping Aubrey was probably the Brig, so the two started heading in that direction. Not the first time they have been on here, neither would it be their last.

Nothing came up at the brig, it was completely empty with no sign of the femme. Where was she?

A trickle of fear could be felt over the bond from both of them. Now they were out of ideas, and the ship wasn't that small to have time to check in every single room. Somebot would find them by then.

Out of opinions, they began searching the ship as quickly as possible. Nothing else came to mind on where she was. Maybe one of the higher ranked bots was put on watch duty to ensure she didn't escape. If that was the case, the twins would have even a harder time breaking out.

They rounded a corner quickly without looking and immediately ran into somebot. They recoiled as if they were burned and ready themselves to fight.

Surprise grew on their face plates. In front of them stood Breakdown, Knockout, and… Barricade. The former two wasn't too shocking but the latter was what caught their optic. Their sparkmate had helped him escape to the Autobot's capture and here he was, in no need of help. Glitch.

"What are you doing here?" the three growled in unison. Uh-oh, energon might be shed today.

**Aubrey's POV: Sometime earlier**

"Barricade is coming to save me? Why? Isn't that going to get him on the Con's radar?" I questioned and stared confused up at the two in front of me.

Knockout and Breakdown have been 'helping' me in the slightest to keep Megatron from taking me. Just lying a little bit to say I was still extremely injured and moving me could kill/offline. The leader of the Decepticons didn't want his advantage over the Autobots to die. How considerate.

The red mech was much kinder to me than his partner in crime. Breakdown would glare at me when given the chance or make rude remarks which I didn't respond to. By doing that, it seemed to piss him off even more, to the point he nearly crushed me.

Luckily for me, Knockout stopped him in time and told him to go cool off. The pissed off mech decided to go to another room in the Med. Bay to do his own thing. Whatever it was he did, I had no idea. That was earlier today, now he was back and less mad.

"Yes, it most definitely will and we don't have a clue on why but we also don't care. The mech can do all that he wants unless it gets us in trouble. Megatron is someone you don't want to mess with, Starscream has seen that way too many times," Knockout explained and returned to buffing out a 'scratch'. And I thought Sunstreaker was bad about keeping his paint in tip-top shape.

The moment after, both of them straighten then looked at each other. "He's here. You stay here and we'll go get him. Try and stay out of trouble. And! Don't think about leaving, remember the device." The stupid metal cuff on my leg that felt like it weighed a good thirty pounds.

Megatron had ordered Soundwave, who was creepy to be around, to attach said device to my leg. Now, I couldn't leave the Med. Bay without alerting the entire ship. Fun? Not so much.

With that said and done, Knockout and Breakdown left the bay to go find the ex-con. Did I believe them? Not completely. They are Decepticons in the first place. It's all in the name.

It also didn't make any sense on why Barricade would save me. The last time we met face to face, he used me as a bargaining chip and nearly made me into a pancake. Yes, I did help him but he probably took it as a return for not turning me into pile of flesh and broken bones.

A plan was brewing up inside of my head at the moment. Would it be enough to escape the ship? Maybe. Should I risk my life on a maybe? Not really. Were there any other plans of saving me going on? Nope. Just like old times where it was just me and myself. That's all I needed anyway to save myself from danger.

Then I realized a huge probably: the main helper in my plan was sitting on a Cybertronian sized table thirty feet away. Also, I kind of needed to pee and there was nowhere to do that. And I was on top of another large table with no way down. Fantastic. I had been on here the entire time.

Should have asked if they could moved me over there. Ugh.

Even jumping down from the slab would be fatal or at least extremely painful; that was out of the equation. I had to think smart about getting down then back up to the other table or else I would be stuck here until Megatron picks me up.

The more I thought about the two main things; Barricade would never try to save me and there were no options of getting down without hurting myself. I groaned loudly and sat down roughly with my head in my hands. All I wanted at this moment was to go back home, back to the dogs, back to Sides and Sunny. God, I missed them badly even if I was only gone about a day.

Outside of the bay, I heard the sound of someone's arguing with each other and stood up. Were they coming here? If they were, I was in big trouble. Gladly it didn't sound like Megatron or his second in command, Starscream.

Then the door to the Med. Bay opened and surprise was written all over my face. Three of the beings I was thinking about were standing in the doorway.

Immediately, the twins moved forward and Sunstreaker was the first to scoop me off of the slab. The sudden movement had scared me. I latched onto his servo with all of my might. Tears welled up in my eyes but I didn't let the fall, since we were still in front of the enemy. Sunny held me to his chassis and had his back to the other three.

After a couple of seconds, Sides snatched me from his brother grasped and held me close to his face plates. HIs optics never leaving my form, as if he was afraid to lose me again. I clutched at his face plates carefully and leaned against him, relieved they were here.

"Whoopie, she's saved. I suggest you get this show on the road before other's catch wind of this," Breakdown grounded out and glared at the three of us.

Sunstreaker turned to them and revved his engine loudly. "You have no say in this, Con," he hissed and out slid his blades. It wasn't the time for this. Knockout and Breakdown had kept me safe for the time being and was telling the truth about Barricade.

"It's not the time, Sunny. They have kept me alive and away from Megatron. And was telling the truth about Barricade coming to save me. We need to go before we get caught," I stated and stared straight at the angered mech. Said bot scowled at everyone besides his brother and me but didn't say anything else.

"She's right, let's go," Sides agreed and was about to go through the door when he was stopped. Knockout out stretched his arm to block him from going.

"No can do. The device on her leg would set off an alarm and will send an electric current through her. It wouldn't kill but make it impossible for her to move further away from the Med. Bay," he explained. "Cutting it off would set the alarm off and only Soundwave and Shockwave can take it off."

"Then how do we remove it," Sides growled and held me close to his chassis in a protective way.

"If you're ready to take on an army of Decepticons with her in your grasp, then by all means go ahead. I've done my part for Barricade, we don't own you anything so you're on your own now."

Sides turned to his brother. "I have an idea and you might not like but it's all that we have. Putting her in one of our spark chamber will be the best bet after cutting the thing off. Then we fight our way through."

Sunny's brows nearly hit his helm from how high they went. "Are you serious?! That's dangerous! Our sparks radiate radioactive waves which are harmful to her kind."

"Do you have any other better ideas?" Sunstreaker didn't say a word and knew this was the only way. "See. Now, do you want to hold her and should I?" The golden mech only answered by nodding at Sides and turned to face the three standing in front of the door. "Alright, Knockout can you cut the device off?"

"Yeah, but you owe me one." Sides didn't say anything and just held me out to the medic. "Don't be scared, I aint going to hurt you. I can't risk my paint job because of that." Then his servo changed to a circular saw. My eyes widened into the size of dinner plates. Oh Hell naw!

"Keep that thing away from me before I rewire you into a toaster," I screeched and backed away to the best of my ability.

"Brey, we need to get this done quickly and get out of here. Please," Sides begged and gave me the puppy dog eyes. I sighed and gave in by sticking my leg out for Knockout to cut the band off.

Fearfully, I closed my eyes at the sound of the blade being turned on and couldn't bear to look at his saw. I felt the blade cut through the device and stopped right before touching my leg. Then the sound blaring alarms sounded around us; there it is.

"Time to go. Barricade, you're with us," Sides ordered and opened his chest plates. "Brey, I'm going to put you in my spark chamber. It's the safest place for you while we fight our way through. Just don't touch my spark." I didn't feel great about him putting me there but it was the only way, I guess.

He helped me into the small chamber and closed the pieces of metal the second later. The only thing that was projecting light was the bright glowing thing in the middle. It was his spark I'm guessing, the one thing he told me not to touch. I was about three feet away from his spark, it would make not touching very hard.

"You good, Brey?" Sides called worryingly.

"Yeah, I guess," I answered and hid my fear pretty well.

"Okay, then let's get going." I felt him start to move and gently grabbed at the side to ensure I don't touch his spark. I hope we survive this.


	36. Chapter 36: Solid Ground

It was scary to be inside of Sides spark chamber. Didn't he have any other place to me hide me? Anywhere besides the glowing ball that could possibly kill me or at least give me radioactive poisoning? Hopefully the mech would be careful with his actions or else it would made not touching his spark even harder.

The only sound besides the low hum was the alarm. Everything else was silent; no sign of Cons coming our way. I yelped when shots rang out. Sides came to a screeching stop and moved quickly for cover. His swift movements had nearly made me touch the dangerous object. "Sorry, Brey," he apologized.

I stayed silent, unable to open my mouth in fear. Before, I was acting like a tough person around Knockout and Breakdown. Now though, we were in the middle of escaping with Decepticons shooting at us. One shot could bring down Sides with me still inside of him, I would go along for the ride.

More firing sounded with some coming from our end. I didn't know if the Twins had any ranged weapons with them but Barricade would probably have some on servo. "We need to push through, or else more will show up and block us in," Sunstreaker called out.

His voice was muffled compared to his brother. "Let's take them head on. Don't fall behind, Barricade. We aren't going to come back and save your aft," Sides ordered. By the noise of metal on metal, his and Sunny's blades slid out of their places. They were ready for battle. "Hold on tightly, Brey. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Oh, shit.

The two released a battle cry and seemed to charge straight into the firing squad. I squeaked and gripped onto the metal of the casing even tighter. Sides felt like he had shivered from my grip but didn't save anything and continued on.

Don't die you two or I swear. They must have been cutting through the group of Cons pretty well as the noise of their guns were decreasing in sound. Yet, this wasn't close to the end of this battle. There were still many Decepticons on this ship. It was just the four us against them. How did they even get up here in the first place? Did they have secret alt. mode that they could use to fly?

"Autobots have been spotted on the flight deck. All Decepticons head to the upper levels and ready yourselves for battle." We were on the flight deck? Impossible! We barely had stepped out of the Med. Bay and said place wasn't that close to there.

"Good timing, Prime," Sunstreaker said with a smirk, or at least it sounded like he was.

My hands were trembling in fear and my breaths were starting to become quick and short. You can only stay strong for so long. In front of Knockout and Breakdown, it was an act of being tough and unmoving. Now, I was away from them, in Sides spark chamber that could possible injure me. Everything was coming down on me.

I tightened my grip and screwed my eyes shut trying to ignore the sounds outside. "Aubrey?" Sides called out gently once the noise of screeching metal went silent.

"Ye-yeah?" My voice betrayed me and I mentally cursed at myself.

"I'm so sorry, Brey. We're almost out here. Just a little longer, I promise." His tone was soft and gently, reassuring me we were going to escape from this place all in one piece. A tiny smile made its way to my features but didn't stay there long.

By the sounds outside of the chamber, more Decepticons have showed up. I whimpered with my eyes still clamped shut and tensed every muscle in my body. Mentally, I latched onto the promise he said and tried to block out the loud screeching of metal.

Sides, you better keep that promise or I swear I'm going to haunt you.

Bright light shone on my shut eyes and caused me to cringe. I instinctively used my hand to block it and curled more in myself, my hand still gripping on the piece of metal. "Aubrey, it's okay. We're safe," Sides reassured. I felt a servo gently touch my side. In reaction, I shuffled away and released my hold. "It's alright."

I carefully opened my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light. In front of me, Sunstreaker stood with a subtle look on his and blocked the view of other Autobots. The red twin's servo was at the edge of his chamber, waiting for me to climb out.

"Come here," Sunstreaker ordered and motioned to come towards him. I shakily climbed out and stumbled into his servo. My hands latched onto anything of his servo as he closed his chassis plates. "How is she?"

The somewhat familiar feeling of a scan passed over my body. "Heart rate is extremely high so is her blood pressure. Doesn't have any broken bones or open wounds, thankfully. I suggest we take her to Ratchet," Sides offered and glanced up at his brother. Sunny nodded his head and turned around to head towards wherever Ratchet is.

Said mech was close by and having a conversation with Optimus. I still was lying down on Sides servo and white-knuckling his armor. "Ratchet, here's Aubrey. Please, take good care of her," Sunstreaker growled and glared daggers at him.

Sides stretched his servo out to hand me off to Ratchet. I gasped in fear of being away from the twins and scrambled away from the medic. "N-no! I don't wanna-I don't want to leave. I s-stay with Sides and Sunny," I stammered over my words and held onto the plating of Sides wrist/forearm.

The red mech stopped moving his arm and stared down at me. My eyes were wide in fright. I gazed up to him and pleaded him with an expression to let me stay with him. Ratchet would have to pry my cold, dead body of his servo. "Aubrey, I have to make sure you're fine and the Cons didn't do anything to you," the medic explained.

Eyes wide with terror and leaving one of the mechs that just saved me, I white-knuckled Sides plating and observed the medic. Ratchet reached out to grab me but I screeched loudly and backpedaled to the middle of Sides forearm.

Sunstreaker finally got into the mix and quickly stepped into between to shield me away from the neon yellow bot. His brother used his other servo to scoop me off of his forearm and held me in a protective grasp. "Never mind, we'll hold onto her," Sides dismissed stepped away.

My heart felt like it was in my throat as the mech moved away from Ratchet. Said mech went to move around Sunny. Instead, he was tackled to the ground by the yellow twin and was unable to escape his grasp. That's when the other Autobots around us got into the mix.

All of this action and growing chaos was not helping my silently panicking self. Tears were now running down my face and my breaths were shaky as I stood to my feet unsteadily. A quick glance to Sides told me he was also worried about what his brother was about to do.

Bumblebee was the first reach the two struggling against each other and tried to talk the pissed off Bot. At that moment, no one besides his brother could get him to calm down by saying a few words.

His attempt failed, not surprising and nearly back fired on him. Sunny's attention was mostly on Bee now and things turned on him. Ratchet was able to kick the golden mech off of him and get to his pedes. "Sunstreaker, this isn't the way to do this. We got her back and I need to check her over for injuries."

A snarl made its way onto Sunny's features and he stared daggers at the bots in front of him. His back was to us and stance in a guarding way. The twin blades slid out of their sheaths and clicked into place.

Oh no, this wasn't going to end well. "Sunny, don't. You don't need to attack them," Sides tried to get his brother to stand down but failed to try any physically prevention. "It won't help us back at base." That's when I finally realized we were standing in the middle of a forest. I was so out of it.

Sunny's frame tensed as he ready himself to charge at any of the bots in front of him. Gathering every ounce of strength left in my trembling body, I took a large gulp of air. "Sunny!" I shouted and stared at the back of his frame.

Said mech stood rigid then a moment later turned around to face us. "Please, don't. Just come here," I ordered softly and motioned for him to come over to me. He stood there for an extra couple of seconds before following through and stepped up to us. I beckoned for him to lower his helm and he did so.

I gently placed my hands on the smooth plating of his face and gazed intently at his blue optics. "Sunstreaker, please don't get yo-yourself in trouble. I just want to go, to go back to home and snuggle with you two," I stumbled over my words a little, my fear was slowly washing away.

His furrowed brows softened. He leaned into my touch and closed his optics. "I can't promise that I won't beat the slag out of one of them if they look at you wrong." I knew it was wrong to encourage that kind of behavior but I couldn't help the quiet giggle that escaped my lips.

A smile grew on his own when he heard my laugh. I turned to look at Sides. "I hope you don't mind but could Sunny hold me?" He shook his head with the corners of his mouth tilting upward. His brother scooped me off of his servo in a spark beat and held me close to his chassis.

After glancing at all of the bots around us, there was one missing: Barricade. Where was he? "Where is Barricade?" I questioned and gazed up at the golden mech holding me. Hic optics narrowed at me saying the ex-cons name.

"Gone. Ran off after we escaped the ship," Sides explained before his brother could angry. I felt a little sadden at the mech leaving and missed my chance to say thank you. It surprised me that he came to save me. Megatron was going to kill him if he ever saw Barricade again, that was a for sure thing.

Moments passed after then all of a sudden-

"Where in the hell in she?! I swear I'm going to kill those two for nearly jeopardizing the mission," a more than familiar voice shouted at the top of his lungs. I wiggled out of the comfortable position that Sunny had me in and saw Lennox marching his way past the wall of Autobots.

His eyes locked onto the three of us and narrowed. "You two." His voice was now deadly sounding as he continued his way over to us. "Where is Aubrey?! And, don't even try to lie to me or I'll shove one of Hide's cannons up your ass." I felt Sunstreaker tense up at his words and reassured him by gripping the plating of his digit.

"Just put me down, please." The mech gave me some trouble before settling me down carefully and sending Lennox a warning expression. We stood there for a moment, staring at each other in shock. He was the first to make a movement and rushed up to me. His arms wrapped around me in a death grip. "Lennox," I sobbed and leaned on him with all of my weight.

That when the waterworks started up again. Drops of salt water were pouring down my face as we continued to embrace each other. "God, I thought you died!" Will pushed me away to arm length and glared at me intently. "Never, ever do that again. I fucking swear, you and your health. This is the worst of the worst, though."

Those words drew a small giggle out of me and I embraced the soldier once more. For a tiny moment, I thought this was all fake. Them saving me this so quickly didn't seem true. In real life, mysteries take days, weeks, even years to be solved. Sometimes they never get solved. "No promises," I joked and cringed as my body was slowly starting to fail me.

The entire time I was with the Cons, I didn't get a wink of sleep nor food. My instinct from when I was young kicked in and took over everything that I did. Sleeping was a form of vulnerability. Yes, Knockout and Breakdown did keep me away from Megatron and somewhat helped me escape, you can't trust everyone who helps you.

My last thought made me glance behind me at the twins and shook my head. Those words weren't true in any way. If I didn't follow through with Zeke's suggestion, I never would have known how amazing Sides and Sunny were.

It will definitely take time to get use to the situation of being in a relationship, more of the fact of being with two beings. I totally skipped the one partner part of this dating thing. "Has Ratchet checked you over?" he brought me out of my thoughts.

"I-I, I don't want to leave the twins. I need to, to stay with them." My words were still a little messed up. Will's brows furrowed and went to grab my hand but I was able to avoid his hand. "Lennox, pl-please, don't. I-I need to stay with them."

"Aubrey, he needs to make sure you're fine," Will stated and grasped my shoulder. "The Cons could have done something to you." I shrugged his hand off and backed away while shaking my head.

Sunstreaker came to my rescue and snatched me off of the ground. "William, I won't even try going against them. I tried to do so but failed. My scans show that everything seems alright besides her higher heart rate and blood pressure," Ratchet interrupted.

On both of the twins face plates were smirks as if they proud of their actions. I smacked Sunny's chassis with the back of my hand and gave him a look. He returned it with an expression as if he didn't do anything and a 'what?'. "Now, can we head back to the base?" Sides spoke after the few second stare down.

"Yes." Will turned to Boss Bot. "Optimus, the planes have landed at a nearby airstrip. It's not military so you guys need to stay in your alt. mode." Said bot dipped his helm to acknowledged what Will had said. I zoned out as Optimus gave a small speech and cuddled closer to Sunny.

A headache was slowly growing but I knew it was just from the stress of everything that just happened.

Tears ran down my face as all of us drove towards the small air strip. A hand gently grabbed mine and pulled it against a warm chest. "You're safe, Brey," Sunny's voice soothed my trembling form. I sobbed and latched onto his holoform with all of my strength. "There, there." He patted my back and wrapped his arms around me.

I didn't say anything to him as he careful lifted me into his lap. He moved the seat as far back as possible and held me close to his holoform. Instead of fighting against the transition, I buried my head into his shoulder and dug my nails into his skin, afraid of losing him again; including his brother as well.

The trip back to the base went by like the flash of a light due to the fact I fell asleep by accident. Being inside of his alt. mode and cuddling with his holoform had made me feel safe.

"-rul! You don't want to wake her." A familiar voice hissed quietly but still drew me out of my nap. I groaned tiredly and stretched out only to be met with some kind of wall blocking me from do so. My eyes snapped open to see what was in the way and calmed down. Sunstreaker was holding me in his servo after what looked he just transformed. "Too late for that."

"Hm?" I mumbled and curled back into a ball, my eyes closing on their own. "Are we back at the base yet?"

They both chuckled at my antics. "Yes, we are. We're actually in our berthroom. A few of the bots and humans tried to stop us but we were able to slip past. All we want to do right now is snuggle with you," Sides explained. I reopened my eyes and scanned our surroundings. He was correct, we were in their berthroom.

We were far away from anyone or bot. "You should follow through with that," I mumbled with a hint of a blush making its way to my cheeks. A suggestive look passed over his face before a smirk took over his features.

"Will do." The two lied down on their berths which were pushed together. Sunny set me down in between them where a pile of blankets were. Immediately , I wrapped myself up the blankets and glanced at the two around me.

Smiles adorn all of our faces as we were finally back with each, for good.


	37. Chapter 37: Lost

A feeling of denial at what Will had just passed over me. My dream job-no, my dream career had been ripped away from me. Tipps had fired me after being a no-show and later learning of my vehicle was destroyed.

She wouldn't do that to me, we've worked somewhat together for years. I haven't done anything wrong before in any of those years. Why would she drop me like that?

Then came the shock. I buried my face in my hands and nearly cried out. On my sides, the twins comforted me by rest a hand on each shoulder. "Brey, it's going to be alright," Will tried to reassure me. Anger flooded through me. I stood up so quickly my chair nearly fell backwards and slammed my fist down on the table hard.

The noise surprised everyone in the room, including the twins. They also stood up with me in reaction and waited for me to do something. "Will, it's not going to be alright! My friend was nearly killed by Decepticons and my patrol truck destroyed. I was kidnapped by the Decepticons! And that leaves me to night terrors because of it. Then Tipps decides to drop me. I lost my dream career," I grounded out and glared down at him.

Will timidly got to his feet and put his hands out like he was trying to calm down a frightened animal. "I'm sorry, I-" he cut himself short, unable to think up anything to say to me. That was understandable. How do you consult someone how just went through a tough time without sounding like you knew everything.

Sides and Sunny have thankfully been there for me since then. I had taken a week to recuperate from those dreadful two days. The dogs have been taken cared by Zeke and Dominick so I didn't have to worry about them.

Will said he would take care of the many issues of my job. He came back with bad news instead, I don't blame him though. It was my fault for getting caught in the mix. I should in no way blame Will for me losing my job.

The twins grabbed my hands and brought me back to reality. "Thank you, Will. I really appreciate what you have done for me," I thanked the man and allowed the corners of my mouth to tip upward. Will returned it and rested his arms at his sides.

"Well, don't be so much of a downer. This is the perfect moment to offer a proposition. All the Autobots consider you as one. Optimus has given me the go-ahead. Would you, Aubrey Lambert, like to join the Autobots to defeat the Decepticons?" My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

I glanced to the twins quickly to see what their reactions were. They both wore the same expression as me with a hint of worry in their eyes. "Are you sure that's a smart thing to do, Lennox?" Sunstreaker questioned with an underlining tone to his voice. His holoform's optics narrowed at the major but the man was barely unmoving.

"Yes, it is. Optimus has seen her skill and approves of her personality." He turned his gaze to me. "You're a woman of loyalty. Boss Bot wants someone like you to fully join the team. If you don't, he completely understands." Optimus wants me to join the Autobots, join N.E.S.T.

That's was something huge to commit to. Just like a Game Warden, you must fulfill your duty as a peace officer. I squeezed both of the twins hands to calm my jittery nerves. They returned the gesture and moved a couple inches closer to me. I silently thanked them for the reassurance. "Will, I'll have to think about the offer. Give me five days to think and I'll have your answer then," I declared.

"Alright. Whatever you choose it'll be a great choice." With that conversation done, the three of us left Will's office which he barely uses. He's usually out in the main hangar, ensuring everything is going to plan.

Once we stepped out of the building that housed many of the offices, the twins holoforms disappeared. In front of the place, were two shiny Lamborghini's parked horizontal. They were taking up three spots each. The parking spots were numbered so they were assigned to a soldier. Luckily, no one had come to park there.

Both of them transformed into their alt. mode and Sides gave me his normal cheeky smile. "Come on! We've things to do, people to prank," he rushed and scooped me off of the ground. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped at his words and actions. "We love seeing that beautiful smile of yours." Where did that come from?!

A blush covered my face and I used my hands to block my growing red face from view. "Don't hide your stunning face from view." Sides poked at my side and forced me to straighten up in reaction. Then he moved his pointer digit under my chin so I couldn't hide anymore.

Our eyes/optics met, the color of both of their optics still amazes me. I stopped from moving and stared straight at him. "I still can't believe that I have you two… I always thought I was going to be alone for the rest of my life but here you two are. I love both of you so much," I stated and glanced at both of them when I said the last sentence.

"You'll never be alone again, we promise. We love you to the farthest reaches of the universe," they said in unison. Sunny got into the mix physically by gently wiping off the tear I didn't notice that had fallen.

Before Sunny could move his servo away, I hooked my fingers into the grooves of a digit. The gesture had caught his attention and he raised a brow at me in question. I pulled it closer to me and kissed the tip of his digit while keeping eye contact with him. His optics narrowed at me, not in a threatening or rude way.

His brow raised again, a puzzled look in them. I only shrugged for the strange action I just did; it felt like the time to do to it so I did.

Nothing else was said between us, just sweet silence, nothing had to be said. Ever since my rescue, I felt nearly connected to them and understood their feelings without realizing it in the moment. Maybe later in the day, the memory will come up randomly and make me think about what happened.

We went back to their berthroom, even though they try to get me say ours, lounged around. After Will had dropped the figuratively bomb on me, I had a lot to think about. My dream career had been lost after being MIA for a little over a week.

Something like that was treated seriously in this line of work. Just like any job, if you don't give any notice and go radio silent for a large amount of time, you'll get the boot. Just like how I was giving. Plus Tipps somehow learned of my patrol truck becoming scrap metal, that didn't help my case once-oh-ever.

Unintentionally, I thumped my head against the metal plating of Sunny's helm. Said mech was drawing and allowing me to watch perched on his shoulder. Sunstreaker stopped turned his helm in the slightest to the side with worry adorning his face plates. "Are you alright?" he questioned and set down the data pad in his servos.

I shrugged my shoulders and sighed deeply, a little frustrated on the situation. "Not really, but I'll think of a way to fix so don't worry about me," I nonchalantly said and dragged a hand down my face.

Sides sat up from his berth that he was lying, reading a data pad. "Not going to happen, sweetspark. You've got us to help, you're no longer going to be alone. And not worry about you? We're never going to stop. We care about you, more than you'll ever know," Sides explained and came up to us.

A little embarrassed of what he said, I turned my head away to hide the blood rushing to my cheeks. Blooms of happiness grew inside of me at his words though. Every day they showed that truly care and love me. "Is it about the offer Lennox gave you?" I timidly nodded my head. "At first, we thought it would be cool to have our charge on base but then we realized you would go out to face the Cons; a large chance you would get killed."

"Then our feelings grew much larger after time and when Lennox offered it again, just the thought of you facing the Cons again." Sides shivered to show his distaste of the idea. "We cannot bear the thought of you getting hurt, or worse…"

Fear of losing me was evident in his optics, his brother most likely feeling the same way. "I still haven't even really thought about accepting the offer. It's a huge offer. And if I do, you guys need to understand, that I'm the type of person that like to be moving around. A job of sitting around isn't something for me," I explained and carefully stood up on Sunstreaker's shoulder.

Sunny tensed up at moved and acted like he was readying himself to catch me. I patted his cheek to reassure him I wasn't going to fall. "Working alongside you two and being able to see you every day in your bipedal form does sound good the more I think about it."

"What! No! That wasn't what we were thinking." Sides groaned and stared at me. "Using my own words against me. How dare you!" His tone of voice was playful and the playful smirk on his face aided the fact he was only goofing.

An idea seemed to come to mind. His gaze moved to the back of his brother's helm and a glint appeared in his optics. Uh-oh. Did our conversation just turn for the worse? A good kind of worse.

I leaped from Sunstreaker's shoulder to the desk he was sitting at. Only to be scooped out of mid-jump and cradled in a warm servo. Crap, my plan was foiled. "You think you can escape us that easily?" Sunstreaker said with a smirk adorning his lips. I chuckled quietly and stood up in his servo.

"Alright, alright ya caught me," I admitted defeat and put up my hands to add to the act. Oh yes, this was just an act. Suspension trickled through me, and it wasn't my own emotion.

There was no time to dwell on it as an opening was just given to me. Sunny opened his servos a little bit more and, not realizing it, gave me the chance to escape. I took another daring leap through the hole and rolled on the desk.

Both of them were shocked at my quick movements and stared down at me. I stuck out my tongue at them and dodge the swipe for me by Sunstreaker. He was being careful as to not whack me across the room while having our fun.

Did the seriously think they could catch me? I'm sneaky, quick, and clever. The red twin got into the mix by standing on the right side of Sunny to corner me on one side of the desk. Did their plan succeed? In my eyes, it did not. I rolled to the side again and notice the chair was in jumping distance. Perfect.

To ensure they didn't suspect what my plan was, I averted my eyes to the shelf nearby and acting like that was where I was heading next. So gullible, sadly. Sides moved to the left of Sunny to block that 'escape plan' and opened up where I was truly going towards.

My legs took most of the landing and my hands helped steady myself. Surprise and worry shot through me, it was barely noticeable but still there; and it wasn't my own emotion. I stopped in my tracks and allowed my body to do its own thing. My eyes locked onto Sides optics as he knew what was going on. His optics were already on me. He silently mouthed 'you too?' and furrowed his brows.

Sunstreaker glanced at the both of us quickly, confusion written all over his features. Yet, he made no sounds or words to express himself.

We stared at each other for a few more moments before Sides decided to break the silence. "You felt that, right?" he question quietly, sounding the slighting afraid. I was a little fearful to speak and only nodded to answer him.

His brother now seemed angered about us not explaining that. "What are you two talking about?" his voice was hardened as he tried to hide his hint of jealously.

"I felt a small amount of adrenaline and excitement run through me. It wasn't my own emotion, neither was it yours," he answered and kept his gaze on me.

"And I felt surprise and worry. It was barely noticeable but I still felt it nether the less. It also happened early today and a couple times before then. Instinctively, I had to stop and look up at Sides. I don't know why but I just had to," I gave my half of the story.

Sunstreaker's brows furrowed even deeper as his confusion continued to grow. I didn't blame him, I was more puzzled than he was. Sunny gazed at Sides and I knew they were talking internally. "That can't be possible. Those don't work with organics," Sunstreaker hissed lowly then realized he has said that out loud.

"What doesn't work with organics?" I inquired and now knew this was definitely about me or at least somewhat it is. The two pause and tensed up, optics still locked onto each other. I guess Sunny didn't mean to say that out loud.

Both of them turned to face me, guilt trickling in their optics. "We don't know if what you're saying is what we are thinking about. It probably isn't since Cybertronians and organics cannot have a bond," Sides explained and confused me more. I furrowed my brows at him and tilted my head to the side.

The yellow twin smacked his brother with the back of his servo. "You just confused her more," he scoffed and rolled his optics then gazed down at me. "Aubrey, you were in direct contact with Sides spark and now that I think about it, it was a stupid idea in the first place." Sides gave him a look that said 'did you have any better ideas?' "Shut it, Sides. And a bond is when you're connected… spiritually? That is the closest word to explain it."

"Bonds are usually made between Cybertronians. There are many types bond like sibling bonds, Sides and I have that one but we are more connected since we are spark spilt twins."

"Or! Sparkmates! You never know, Sunny. Anything could be possible, we fell for a human. Also bonds like that were never completely tested on," Sides interrupted and leaned into his twin's side. The way they were explaining it was confusing but understanding at the same time.

"Or it could hurt her. Our sparks give off radiation which is harmful for humans," Sunstreaker growled and glared fire at Sides. Said mech realized the effects of his actions and lowered his head, acting a little fearful of his twin. "You never thought about that did you?!"

Before this could escalate even worse than it already did, I interrupted the two. "Hey! Quite it. I'm fine, Ratchet said so. Whatever happened that affect me will probably wear off after sometime. And it would had been at its strongest the moment after I was out of Sides spark chamber. Ratchet would have picked it up on his scanners."

The two stopped their arguing and changed their down at me. "I dunno, Brey. I think we should take you to him for a check over," Sides suggested. That was something that I didn't want to do.

I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip. "No, he'd freak the fuck out if he heard of this. I don't need another worry wart added to you two. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, don't take it as," I groaned and dragged a hand down my face. Ratchet was extremely thorough when twins finally let him look me over. "Remember I was kept in the Med. Bay for most of the day. He looked through everything and didn't find a thing. I'm fine and I feel fine, I promise."

Sides furrowed his brow with guilt swirling in his optics and kneeled down to be eye level with me. "Are you sure? I don't want to be the one that accidently hurt even if it was an accident," he grumbled and looked away.

A soft smile made its way to my lips to reassure him. "Yes, I am. If I did or do feel something weird, we'll go to him to check me over again if that helps ease both of your worries," I offered and glanced up at Sunny behind me. Said mech nodded to agree to my suggestion. I felt the tiniest bit bad for somewhat lying, I didn't want to go see Ratchet over something so little. The medic had more to worry about.

The red frontliner optics light up at my offer and he nodded his helm quick. "Yes, it does. Thank you. Now, where were we?" A play smirk grew on his lips and he lifted his servo to grab me again. I yelped when I realized all three of us were back to having our fun

Behind me, his brother blocked part of the way to get to the floor. The Cybertronian sized chair stood about ten feet above the ground; too high to jump just from my spot. This gave me an idea though. I glanced down at Sides legs for a quick second and noticed it was close enough. Perfect.

Quick like a cat, I leaped from the seat onto his thigh, then to the ground. My heart was pounding against my chest the moment my feet landed on the concrete. I continued forward though and didn't stop until a yellow servo scooped me off of the ground. "Ack!"

Sunny lifted me up to eye level with him and smirked in victory. "Got you," was he said with a cocky tone.

"That jump was cool though, right," I questioned, little bits of adrenaline running through me.

"Dangerous but yes, it was," Sunny answered and sat down back down on the chair he was sitting at. He set me down on his shoulder and got back to work on his data pad.

"Hey, I want to hold her," Sides whined and slumped his shoulders in a pout. I turned my head to gaze at him with an amused look on my face. "Don't give me that look, or else." There was an underlining tone to his voice, a good kind though.

"Or else what?" I teased and smirked, knowing what the possibility of what could happen between the three of us. Was I scared? Maybe in the slightest. Did I trust them? With all I had to offer.


	38. Chapter 38: Upcoming Problems

**Mentions of sexual content in this chapter! They don't do it in this chapter though! Also… I don't know what you mean that I nearly forgot to update my books…**

Thoughts were rushing through my head and nothing seemed to calm them down. The twins were off doing training with Hide and were forced to leave by my lonesome. Was a smart idea to leave the terrified woman to herself with no one to help calm her down? No, it definitely wasn't smart in any way to do so.

My hands started to tremble lightly and fear slowly sunk past any emotional barriers. The dogs were still back at home and were part of the small group that had a chance of bring me out of this state. Sides and Sunny were nowhere close to me, not even in sight. I couldn't bear to be around people.

On that Decepticon ship, I could have died. Before meeting any of the Autobots and growing closer to Will and the others; I would've of thought that no one would come to save me from my doom. There would be no care in the world to me if I died. That completely changed when I realized my love for the twins.

Someone, or two of them, I cared for deeply and would risk my life for as well. The twins had showed me what real love is and helped keep my fear down for it. My mother had scared me about love; it was what killed her in the end.

"Lil' lady, ya alrigh' there?" I heard the familiar voice of a special bot. I snapped my gaze up at him in surprise then realized what he asked and nodded my head. Not a sound came from me though, my thoughts taking over my mind again. "Ya sure. Ya don't look all tha' well to meh."

I hummed and tried to focus on the T.V in front of me. That plan failed as a shot of pain hit me on the of my head. Again, with these stupid not-mine emotions. It was the fifth time this week. One time, it happened three times a day which was hard explain to the twins of how I didn't feel anything. I don't believe my innocent game was going to last much longer.

Ratchet was scary on one of his good days. If he learned of what was happening, especially me keeping it a secret for so long, all hell would break lose. I didn't want to face, that was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Brey?" the sound of Jazz's voice brought me back to reality. Jazz's face was much closer than before and he was kneeling down in front of me. I was sitting on top of the 'coffee table' for the Autobots. It's the perfect height for me jump down from. Getting back up to here, that was a different story. "Ya know wha', ah gunna bring ya ta Ratch. Ya worryin' meh."

That caught my attention. I jumped to my feet and backed away from Jazz's servo with my hands out in a futile attempt to stop him. "I'm fine, Jazz. I just have a lot on my mind. And it doesn't help that Hide needed the twins. They seem to be the only thing keeping me sane at the moment," I retorted.

Jazz stopped moving and nodded his helm. "Ya could've just said tha'. If ya need uh bot ta chat with, my office is always open. Now, wha's on your processor?" He sat down on the concrete in front of me and rested his arms on his knees. I gazed at him confused on his actions. "Don't give meh tha look. I'm all audio receptors. Just say what's weight ya down."

Would it best to talk to him? Could I tell him about the weird transfer of emotions, which included pain somehow? I stared straight at his visor and contemplated whether or not to tell him.

A sigh escaped me. I sat back down on the metal and buried my face in my hands. "Jazz, I'm not use to the twin's affection. A part of me wants to fight it, fight against them. And I do, I don't like to be showered in love or affection. Neither of those things I received as a child," I started with a little part of the problem.

"An' why do ya fight agains' wha' is good?" he threw at me and seemed to raise a brow. Hard to tell under his visor.

Fear gripped my heart when he said those words. "I… uh I don't believe... in love. My mom… was killed by one of her many boyfriends and was found in a ditch." An involuntary shiver ran down the length of my spine, remembering what happened to my mother.

"You're afraid of endin' up like her," he pointed out the obvious. I ducked my head down to hide against his gaze on me. My hands started to shake again but I hid it well by placing them in my lap. "Understandable. Only thing is: Sides and Sunny care abou' ya more than ya'll ever know."

The two of them did show that very well, but people hide things from others to either protect or hurt them. That's when I decided telling him about what has been happening since I got back. "I'm going to tell you something but you must promise me to not tell another soul or being, alright?" I grounded out to ensure my secret would stay as so.

"If it endangers someone's life, ah'll have ta say something." Just get off of your chest. It'll make you feel much better, Aubrey.

I sighed deeply and began to scratch an invisible itch on my arm. "All I have to say is don't tell Ratchet. He'll probably kill me then somehow bring me back just to scold me for my actions… I keep having a 'transfer' of emotions between Sideswipe. Just him and he feels them too. I don't know how to explain it. It's quick and lasts less than a second."

"Ah've heard abou' yar stay in Sides's spark chamber. Wasn't the smartest idea but it worked and seeming uninjured. I'm guessing that what ya're feeling is the after affects of it. If ah was ya, ah would go ta Ratch ta get tha' checked out. It could be worse than ya know," Jazz suggested the one thing that I was against.

Again with letting the medic know about this was dangerous for myself. Death could be eminent by having a talk about this with him.

"I told the twins if it worse then I'll go to him."

"Ya sound like ya not sayin' somethin' abou' it," he pointed another oblivious out. I scratched nervous at the back of my neck and changed my gaze to the floor.

"Yeah, uh… it's happened multiple times since then and I've lied about it. It even happened when you were in here but this time it was pain. I'm guessing Sides got knocked upside the head or something." His glare intensified and he leaned forward, seeming a little threatening now.

"And why haven't ya gone ta Ratchet?" Anger was evident in his voice but most of it was backed up by worry and concern. Most of his accent was gone as well.

More nervous than before I messed with my hands as my anxiety started to rise.

"It's nothing, Jazz. If it was, Ratchet would have found something when he held me in the Med. Bay for the second day I was back. You remember that, the twins threw a huge fit about it. I don't blame them and was glad that Ratchet allowed them to come inside with me."

Jazz nodded his head but seemed to disagree with my words. "Still doesn't mean ya should avoid the doc for this unknown after affect of bein' in direct contact with Sides spark. This could offline ya. Do ya know what the twins would do if ya were gone and it was their fault? All pit would break loose and worse would follow after." Hide likes to tell me the hell that the two brought when I was captured.

"Jazz, please don't tell anyone. Not a single soul or being, please," I begged and gave the ol' puppy dog eye look to add to the mix. It was hard to tell what he was truly feeling under his visor. Hopefully he was leaning towards my way and not going to comm. anyone about this.

"Alrigh'. But, ya mus' promise me if ya have another episode ta go ta the doc." I agreed to his terms and he left me to my own devices. Then I realized that if Jazz was here, so was Zeke but I didn't have the courage to step outside of the rec. room without one of the twins. So I went back to watching the show that was on the T.V.

Later in the day, the twins waltz into the Autobot's Rec. room looking extremely tired. Both of their paint jobs were scratched and flaking in a few spots. Sunstreaker looked the angriest out of the two yet the moment our eyes/optics met, his rage started to calm down.

A cheerful smile made its way onto Sideswipe's features. He scooped me off the coffee table and brought me against his face plates. Someone was joyful to see me. "We've missed you. It did feel good to do some training with Ironhide," he greeted and handed me off to his brother.

Still not use to be handed off like some sort of doll between the two of them. "He didn't have to go so rough. He scratched my paint that I just perfected this morning," Sunny complained to me.

Ah, yes this morning. The two of them knew they were training with Hide. They spent all they had with me and we had our fun. But for some reason Sunny thought it was smart to work on his paint job, now it was badly damaged. Said bot wasn't happy all his hard work went down the drain. "You knew about working with Hide, this morning. Why would you perfected your paint job?" I questioned with an amused smile on my lips.

Sunny glared at me playfully. "I always have to look clean and that's hard on this mud ball planet," he scoffed about what my planet was made of.

I smacked him with the back of my hand and returned the playful glare. The hit hurt me more than him but I acted like didn't hurt one bit. "Hey, you're talking about my planet. It's a pretty planet to me."

"It's the only planet you've been to or on. Plus, your opinion is a little bias since this is your home planet." Sunstreaker did have a point but I'm only human. We can't survive the rough and harsh planets they've been to.

The conversation ended after that and the two brought me back to their berthroom to hang out for the rest of the day.

A yelp escaped my lips when I felt something shock me in my sleep. Immediately, I sat up to look at what did so and noticed the light glowing from the middle of my chest. What the…? Not again. This was the second time this week and only happened when I slept next to the twins. It happened the night when Will offered me the position of joining N.E.S.T.

Off to the left side of me, Sides's optics onlined and lazily landed upon me. Quick like a cat, I grabbed an armful of blankets and hugged them tight to my chest. It covered up the glow, thankfully. "You alright?" Sides questioned tiredly and rubbed at his optics.

To help ease him off of my back, I smiled softly and nodded my head. "Yeah, just a dream," I lied smooth and felt guilt well up inside of me the moment after. Worry zipped through me, shit, and it wasn't my own emotion but I acted like I hadn't felt anything.

His optics widened in surprise then narrowed as to observe any behavior change. To add to throwing him off, I tilted my head to the side with fake confusion written over my face. "Are you feeling guilty of something?" he inquired and leaned closer to me.

"No, why would I?" I threw back and continue the game of lying. My mother had taught me to do this extremely well without being caught. More guilt welled up inside of me. I needed to stop it but the result was something I didn't want: being taken to Ratchet.

Jazz had told me if I felt another transfer of emotions again to go to the doc, and it's happened on multiple occasions. One of the many things about me though: I was the most stubborn woman you'll ever meet. You can try all you want but no way are you going to make me do something I didn't want to do.

Movement to the right of me caught my attention. Uh-oh, we woke sleeping beauty. Never wake up Sunstreaker if you want to keep your life; he didn't like to be disturbed in his recharge. "Would you two shut up?" Sunny growled and shuffled his frame slightly.

Sides ignored his twin and continued to have his optics locked onto me. "You're lying," he stated. I couldn't keep up the act anymore and bowed my head in defeat. His words caught the attention of Sunny who sat up to be included. "Brey, why would you keep this a secret from us?" The tone he used broke my heart into pieces. I felt like utter shit for him finding out that I was lying to him.

I hugged the blankets even tighter then noticed the glow was making its way to my arms. Not good. If I made too much movement, they could get a glance at the elephant in the room. And the entire situation would get even worse and painful than it already is.

Any excuse would be pathetic and futile so I stayed silent. It was my best bet instead of letting my brain think of a way to get out of this.

The red twin leaned down with his brows furrowed and gently tucked his digit under my chin. He forced me to gaze up at him. Tear welled up in my eyes, on the verge of falling but not just yet. All I could say to him was: "I'm sorry" and even that was terrible. It didn't excuse my actions of lying to him, nowhere close to.

"Aubrey, I have contacted Ratchet and we meeting him in five minutes. Come on," Sunny joined in finally and slipped off of his berth. Was it me or did I not hear anger in his voice? I was terrified one or both would be furious with my lying. All of my mother's boyfriends were when they learned of the truth of a lie she told them.

No, this was them ensuring I got checked out. Except there was a sl- "Are your arms glowing?!" Sides gasped and tugged the blankets out of my grasped. I made an attempt to snatch them back but was a second too late. My chest and arms were out for show.

Both of them stopped in their tracks and stared at me. Afraid of what they would do, I curled up into a ball to hide the fact my arms and chest were glowing. "Aubrey, how long has that been going on?" Sunny questioned and took a step towards me.

"I don't, I don't know w-what's happening. I-I-I was s-scared to tell," I mumbled. "And, the… the glowing only ha-happened the, the day Will, Will asked me to join N.E.S.T." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sides move closer but stopped, his own fear growing inside of his optics.

"We need to get you to Ratchet," Sunstreaker declared and carefully picked me off of their adjoined berths. His brother snapped out of his gaze and followed his brother out of the small hangar styled room.

Sunny moved swiftly through the roadways and past the large hangars towards the Med. Bay. I stayed silent, unable to say a word as my eyes were glued to the blue hue slowly spreading to my finger tips. It was getting worse the longer Sunny held.

Hot and cold battled in my internal temperature. Heat was boiling inside of me then a cold feeling would wash over me. This cycle would continue onward without an ending insight. Whatever was happening had never happened before and starting worry me. What was going on with me?

The light inside of the Med. Bay was on and alerted me that Ratchet was already inside. We made it pass the doors and Sunny slowed down his pace to a mild walk. The medic didn't look pleased for having to be woken up in the middle of the night but motioned towards a berth anyway.

Sunstreaker set me down on the berth. The cool feeling that washed over me left the moment he no longer touched. All I was left was with the overwhelming heat inside of my body.

I felt a scan run over me and gazed both fearfully and hopefully up at him. That's when Sides finally made it into the hangar looking shaken up. The cool washing over feeling came back but didn't override the heat. I already knew this had to be a little tied to him but didn't know it was this much tied to him.

Ratchet carefully held my wrist between his digits and took another blood sample. My blood looked perfectly fine by the naked eye but something cellular could have changed. "Have you not noticed that she's glowing Ratchet?" Sunny spoke up and sounded angry.

The neon yellow mech didn't even stop what he was doing to answer Sunny. "Yes, I have, Sunstreaker. That's why I took a blood sample." Ratchet finished up with what he was messing with and turned around to face me. "Aubrey, tell me everything that has been happening. Any small detail will help."

Nervously, I glanced at the twins and noticed Sides was standing a few extra steps away from us. Why was he so far away? Then I remembered the question Ratchet asked me. So I explained what has been happened for the past two weeks since I have been back.

As if perfect timing, at the end of my long montage, whatever he was testing with my blood was done. It beeped to alert that it was finished with its process. Ratchet went over to the device, gasped, then dropped his servos onto the table. He turned around to face me as if he seen a ghost. "How are you not dead or dying at least?"

This caught the twins completely off guard and their frames tensed up, ready for anything. "What are you talking about, Ratchet?" Sides nearly shouted while holding in his anger. Worrying about the mech flipping out, I called out to him softly and gave him a gently smile. My actions seemed to calm him and his brother down a little bit.

"There is a tiny amount of your spark essence inside of her heart. She should be dead." His words caused me to sink down to the ground and hug my knees tightly. "But for some reason, your body has accepted the energy. And the reason for the weird emotion transfers is the connection is trying to form a bond." I remember the twins talking about bonds but not completely understanding what it is.

"Is the essence going to harm her?" Sunny asked the all-time questioned.

"Not so far. Like I said, her body is accepting Sides's spark essence. I would need to keep an optic on her to ensure that it stays that way." He turned to me. "About that hot and cool feeling washing over you, the bond isn't completely and your body is reacting to that."

"How do I complete a bond?" Both of the twins tensed up at my words and I thought I had offended them by asking that. "Wait, was that offensive? I'm sorry if it is."

Ratchet opened his mouth to speak but Sides beat him to it. "No, a bond like that is special and you asking that out of the random surprised us. But you really want to be bonded with us?"

"Yeah, of course. It feels right to be with both of you," I answered and smiled kindly up at the both of them.

"To answer your question, Aubrey, to complete your bond is to interface with the two." The reaction from the twin had me worried about what interface is. Both of raised their brows in shock and glanced at each other in shock. I gave Ratchet a questioning look. "That's kind of what I thought. Interfacing in human terms is sex."

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he said that. First thought that came to mind was: how do you expect me to fuck one of them? That's why they acted that way, I'm acting the same as them anyway. "Don't worry. Their holoforms will suffice as they carry a tiny sliver of their spark inside of the holoforms."

That helped calm the fact I thought he was telling me to have sex with two twenty foot tall robots from the planet Cybertron. But that doesn't deny the fact he is saying that I still have to have sex with them.

A deep, deep red covered my entire face. I buried my face in my hands to hide the blush. "Since nothing else to pose a threat to you, I'm going send you three on your way. After are done with your activity, please alert me." So after I have sex with them, I have to share the lovely details with Ratchet. Fantastic.

Ratchet let us leave his Med. Bay. Silently, we made our way to their berthroom, still in shock of what the neon yellow mech told us. All I have to say is I never had a threesome before. I guess it's time to try new things.


	39. Chapter 39: Soon

**It's not in this chapter, but the next has it. There are sexual references in here though. Also, two more chapters until the book is finished. I can't believe it. **

Awkward was an understandment when we entered the twin's berthroom. Ratchet had just dropped the bomb that we needed to have sex to fix my predicament. The second kicker of this whole thing was we needed to bond which seemed to be a big thing to them. That's what worried me. I didn't know if I was good enough for them.

Yes, they both love me dearly but was it a good choice to do something that is a big deal to them? It bothered me, the thought of not being enough for them in the end. They would leave to find another to satisfy them since I wasn't good the one.

A gently touch to my shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts. My eyes wandered up to the golden bot with his concerned gaze on me. His optics were silently asking me if I was alright. Was I? Physically, by what Ratchet said, I was but mentally after all that has been put on me. I was uncertain how this would play out for the better or worse. "Yeah, I am. Just have a lot on my mind and I'm still glowing like a glow stick," I muttered and leaned in his touch.

Being in contact with him helped with the overwhelming heat wave going on inside of me. Then I realized that Sides had been extremely quiet and keeping his distance. It was the complete opposite of Sides that I know; what was going on with him? "Sides? What's wrong?"

There was something obvious up with him and it was definitely making me worry about him. His optics snapped to look at me and inside of them was guilt. "This is all my fault," he mumbled and picked at the paint on his arms. What?

I shook my head in disagreement. "It's not your fault," I retaliated and glanced up at Sunny to see what his features were displacing. Sorrow and understandment were in his optics. Why would he feel that way? Did I do something wrong?

Sides whimpered and slumped his shoulder down, looking defeated. "But it is. If I didn't put you in my spark chamber, you would never be in this situation in the first place," he explained his reasoning and couldn't lift his optics from the cracked concrete.

The poor mech blamed himself for my predicament. I peered up Sunny and we nodded in understandment of what I needed to do. "Sides, honey, come here." I motioned for him to come over to him. He shook his head to deny my command but my eyes narrowed and reluctantly followed through.

Sunstreaker lifted me up in his servo to be eye level with Sides, I silently thanked the mech. I softly gripped the plating of his cheeks and tugged him closer to me. Once his face was where I wanted, I rested my forehead against him, eyes closed. "Sides, this is none of your fault. You did what you believed was right. And I'm fine! Ratchet said so and I trust him. See this-" I pointed towards my glowing chest and arms- "as a good thing. Some higher being wanted us to be together."

No, I didn't believe in God, himself or herself. What I did believe in was a higher being though. Someone or being to ensure everything didn't all go to crap.

Underneath my hands, I felt the plating moving upward, meaning he was smiling. "Both of you got me to safety and that's all that matters. Or least to me. I don't know about you two," I finished my small speech and reopened my eyes to stare intently into the blue orbs of his.

His smile was still there, reassuring me what I had said had helped his ridiculous thoughts. "I like to see you smiling, means I'm doing something right," I joked and placed a quick kiss on the tip of what looked to be his nose.

The blue in his optics seemed to light up even more and the corners of his lips tilting up even more. Even though moments before this, I was scared Ratchet was going to tell me I was dying; as their girlfriend, I had a duty to ensure they were happy and content.

At least, I think that's what you're supposed to do. There have been only two boyfriends throughout my entire dating history. My mom had scarred me into being alone for the rest of my working life.

"You being with us is all that we ask for," Sunny joined in after a couple of moment of silence. I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth tilting up towards the sky if I tried.

Sides chuckled at his twin's words and stared passed me to him. "You know that was cliché, right?" I realized it was and laughed along with him. The dreadful and unwelcome moment had passed and in settled happiness.

Now it was time to face the elephant in the room. Or tomorrow we could do that. Tonight was plenty tiring to me. Without having to say a word to any of them, they knew how I was feeling and went back to their respected berths. It took a while for sleep to take me with my thoughts running all over the place. Nether the less, it came and took me away.

Day was here a few hours later and Lennox had been told by Optimus. Those three were the only ones outside of our group that knew what was happening… and boy was Will not anywhere pleased with the situation. He was scared about my health and it was understandable.

No one stopped him from giving the Terror Twins an earful though. When he was angry, it was best just let him to rant until his energy ran out. Luckily for me, it was mostly directed at the two. I did feel bad though. Said emotion was felt by the red frontliner and I received a cheeky smirk for some reason. In return, Will yelled at him for that.

A good twenty minutes of completely shouting passed until he had nothing else to say. His eyes were glued onto them with fire flickering in them. Can't wait for Anna gets a boyfriend or girlfriend or anyone in between and the two break up. Threats and yelling were going to be seen in a foreseeable future.

I rubbed at my ears as if I lost my hearing. "Welp, I can no longer hear," I teased the still pissed off major. Will turned to me slow and menacingly. "What do you got to say to me?" I'm just poking the bee's nest now.

He opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to the punch. "I'm fine. Ratchet says so and he'll keep an eye on me to ensure I stay that way. Will, I'm happy and content with where my life is right now and I'm not going to let you interfere with that."

A glare set at me as he internally decided to speak more or end the conversation right there. "Alright, I give, I give. But! If you hurt her in any shape or form, you won't be able to get away from my wrath. Nowhere in this universe will you be able to stay safe if she is injured," Will threatened before exiting the room angrily. We pissed him off beyond belief.

"That went better than expected," Ratchet broke the silent that hung over us after the major left. "Can't wait until he when learns of how to 'help' with your situation." Ah, yeah that. It was only the morning after the scare I gave the three mechs and that was still fresh in our minds. We hadn't spoke a word about it until he brought it up.

Ratchet noticed how quiet we were doing and looked at us annoyed. "Have you three not at least talked about interfacing? The longer you put this off could possible cause pain for you, Aubrey. It will put a strain on the connection," he said irritated with our actions, or for better terms, lack of action.

"Old friend, this is all new and completely different for all of them. They are unsure about approaching the situation and will take time to ease into it," Optimus came to our rescue and implied for the medic to back off of our back.

Said mech scoffed and rolled his optics. "It's going to happen one way or another. That's all I'm saying and they need to get it done as soon as possible," Ratchet gave an excuse.

Optimus chuckled at his friend's antic and led him out of the room after giving us a knowing look. I groaned and slid down in my seat until my back was flat against the seat. "That looks comfortable," Sunny retorted and crossed his arms.

"Ratchet's right, we don't know how we are going to, you know. And this isn't like your normal everyday intercourse. Because I don't know if you have before but I have never had to ever do something like this in my life. I never thought I would have to!" My frustration and hints of fear were evident in my voice.

I placed a hand on my face in irritation and closed my eyes to stop any tears from falling. "We're all in the same ship, Brey. We never done this before. It's a onetime thing. We'll get over this little bump in the road. But taking Hatchet's words to spark, we need to do this soon," Sides spoke up and sounded like he moved closer to me.

He was right. My fear was the one holding me back and probably them two. Like Ratchet said, it's going to happen one way or another. That's how fate works in her mysterious ways.

"I know, I know," I mumbled and finally got off of the chair, eyes peering up at the two. "Do you…-" can't believe what I was about to say- "do you want to try tonight?" I nervously offered and changed my gaze to the concrete floor. It was hard to get that off my chest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw smiles adorn their features. The two glanced at each other and nodded without saying a word to the other. "Yes, Brey. And we'll take it as slow as you want to," they agreed in unison. It was a little creepy hearing them say the same words at the same time. But never the less, it had its own uniqueness to it.

Now figuring that out with them, it was going to be on my mind for the rest of the day. It didn't help that I had to make my decision of joining the team tomorrow. Which I did have my decision already made but wanted to wait until the faithful day.

Throughout the day, the three of us hung around the base. I could feel the tension and unease between us. Just the thought of trying and possibly going through with it sent a shiver down my spine. My eyes instinctively glanced between the two of them and I bit a little nervously at my lip.

They must have felt my gaze on them and turned to me. Our gazes met for a quick second each but I stared back at the T.V. to act like nothing happened. The emotion on and color of my face told anyone else around me otherwise.

Smirk grew on their faces and the red on my face darkened even more in reaction. I felt a snap of cockiness go through me and immediately locked eyes with Sides. God, damnit. "Is someone feeling flustered?" Sides teased then leaned closer towards me.

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at his words. "Sides!" I whined and buried my face into my hands in embarrassment. Said mech chuckled at my antics nuzzled his nose into my side. A cold feeling washed over me the moment he made contact with me and helped with the heat staying steady inside of me.

Unintentionally, I groaned at the soothing feeling and leaned into his touch. His lips tilted up slightly at my actions. "If you keep that up, our plans for tonight might turn into now," he whispered against me.

Shock of his words embraced me as my mouth hung down yet I didn't move away from him. I turned to peer up at his brother. "Did you just hear what he said? Unbelievable," I muttered and shook my head.

Sunny laughed at my words gave my head two short pats in condolence. I gave him a pout and a look that said 'really?'All I got in return was a smirk with underlining meaning to it.

About ten minutes passed and Sides was still pressed up against my side, not a peep came from him. Then I realized the mech was asleep, his optics were off and the soft vents from him verify my suspicion. "He's asleep," I stated the obvious to the yellow frontliner.

"I don't blame him. Ever since we rescue you, he's been on edge and barely recharging which effects me as well. Then he learned of your situation and that's what broke him. He blames himself for what you're going through… He's scared that what his actions could possible do to you, especially the thought of it offlining you," Sunny explained and got off of the Cybertronian sized couch he was lounging on.

Carefully as to not wake his twin, he sat down next to Sides and leaned against the metal coffee table. Guilt rose inside of me again. Sides told me about feeling responsible for what happened to me. I didn't blame him though. Fate wanted to do her thing and made sure that I have this connection with him.

Then the thought about having a connection with Sunny came to mind. I felt bad that I just realized it was just one of them that I this with, not both. "What do you think about all of this? If you could, would you switch positions with him?" I questioned, nervous about his opinion.

"I'm content and happy at least one of us has a bond or whatever it is with you. It's better than none. Though, switching positions with him? I would be acting the same way after learning what after affects were," he answered but not the second completely.

"Do you think there is a way besides having sex to have a connection with you as well?" I wanted to know his thoughts about it. It's not like I want to not have sex with them, it was the fear of them seeing my scarred and ugly body.

His brows furrowed together in a silent question on why I was asking him that. "Ratchet says that is the way. I trust his word and wouldn't want to risk anything besides what he says on a 'I guess'." He did have a point but I did have an idea on avoiding sex. "You have an idea, I can tell."

I nodded my head to confirm his statement. "I do. It's simple and straightforward. Just copy what happened between Sides and me." His optics narrowed at my words and I knew he disagreed with my idea.

"Ratchet would have offered that idea if it was a possibility or safe. The first time of being in contact with Sides spark should have killed you. You heard that from Hatchet himself. Adding in mine could be the kicker of all of this."

"He also did say my body has accepted Sides' spark essence but it craves more. It feels like there's something missing and I think it's you," I countered and pointed out the small spot inside of me that feels empty.

"Brey, what you're asking from me is dangerous. I don't ever want to accidently hurt or injure you in anyway shape or form." I sighed and decided to drop the subject. I couldn't force him to do something he didn't want to do and that was finally.

Off to my right, Sides moved slightly in his slumber but didn't wake. Subconsciously, I rubbed the heel of my hand against my sternum. Then I noticed the glowing had started to act up again.

"Why are you trying to put off of us interfacing?" Sunny questioned out of the blue and sounded the slightly saddened.

"That's not my intention. I just want to maybe avoid it if possible." He gave me a look that questioned me. A sigh escaped my lips and I nervously played with my hands. "Even though I'm- was a Game Warden and was forced to stay in shape, I have never been comfortable in my own body, Sunny. Since I was young, I received scares that cover me from head to toe and ruin what my body could look like. Who wants to have a girlfriend whose body is scarred as if she was mauled?" I muttered, anger slowly appearing in my voice. "No one does. And I'm afraid you guys won't like what you see under my clothes."

There, the words had been said. The truth had been released for him and his sleeping brother. "Won't like what you look like? Scars show that you have survived every you have been through, that you're still alive to this day. To us, if we didn't ensure every weld we got was smooth, our frames would be in the same state." He kind of just said that they also don't want their scars to be shown as well.

He didn't seem to like the look on my face and grunted. "Lift up your shirt. Show me what you have," he ordered and moved closer to me. I could feel his vents brush up against my skin lightly. At first, I was completely against it but the look in his optics reassured to follow through.

A shaky sigh escaped my lips as a trembling hand slowly lifted up my shirt. The light from outside and inside the hangar kissed my skin as every inch was revealed to the mech. His brows did slightly raise at the sight of my tattered and scarred skin. Then anger immediately took over and a snarl made it's way to his features. "Who did this to you?"

Oh, he wasn't mad at me but who did this to me. "To be honest, I don't completely know. As a kid, I got into a bunch of fights. A few others were from my mother's ex-boyfriends. The last one is prison doing his time for killing her and nearly doing the same to me." My words surprised him but I gave him a look to not ask about it. "Yes, I have been through Hell and back, that's what these show… and I don't like them."

Timidly, Sunny pressed a digit against my stomach and lift my shirt even more. Thankfully, I was wearing a bra that covered the ones that adorn my breasts. Those were from the ex-boyfriends, she never knew how to choose good people.

The silent mech moved his helm closer until his lips met with the skin of my stomach. His sudden touch caused my body to quake. He smirked against my skin then stuck his tongue out. "Sunstreaker," I gasped at his actions and forgot that my back was pressed against his bothers cheek.

Said bot finally came back to the land of the living and straightened his back. I was quick to catch myself from falling by leaning on my arms. This gave Sunny full access to my stomach. He ran his tongue from my right side to the other, on the verge of tickling me.

A glare was sent his way from me but I did nothing to stop him. "I'm guessing I missed something big of some sorts," Sides spoke up to break the silence. He only received an expression from Sunny. "Alight then, I call being next in line to get a taste." What the-?

"Why are you two so interested with be in contact with me?" I questioned and gazed behind me at Sides, confusion evident on my face.

"You're so soft and squishy. Usually all we have been in contact with is other metal beings," the red mech answered. To emphasize his point, he poked at my side. In reaction of my sides being touched, I squirmed away from the both of them and put my shirt back down.

The golden bot's lubricant was all over my stomach and caused my shirt to stick to my front. Annoyed this shirt was wet from Sunny, I stood up and stretched out all of my sore limbs.

My eyes glanced out the slightly opened hangar door and noticed the sun was soon to set. The inevitable was close to starting and was best to get it over with. "If you don't want to try tonight, we don't have to, you know," Sides offered and tried to hide the sadness in his voice.

I shook my head in disagreement and faced them fully. "No, I might not be entirely comfortable with tonight but I don't think any amount of time would help that. All of us need to take it slow and test each other boundaries and have our fun while doing so."

Both of them relaxed at my words and smiled in return. "I think it's time to head back to our berthroom." This time it was Sunny wanting to proceed with this. That was a surprise.

Said mech scooped me off of the table and held me close to his humming spark. All three of us headed towards their berthroom for a night we'll never forget.


End file.
